How simple, greasy, cheap “latiao” (literally ”spicy strips“) became the people’s snack
It seems that everyone who was a child in China during the 2000s has some memory of latiao. The spicy strips of greasy dough were the perfect cheap snack for students to blow their pocket money on. One could buy a tiny bag for 1 mao or even individual strips for 1 fen a pop after class, wipe the latiao grease off the keyboard between matches of Counter-Strike at the local internet cafe, or stealthily share with a classmate while the teacher’s back was turned.
Watch the video to find out how a local Beijing shop owner makes traditional latiao
Stripped Down: The Story Behind China’s Favorite Snack is a story from our issue, “Education Nation.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine.
Roman Kierst is a staff writer and editor at The World of Chinese based in Beijing but much more at home in Chengdu, where his own China story first began as a high school exchange student in 2006. Likes to pick up a film camera occasionally to take pictures of (mostly) old places.
