Tianjin to teach secrets of delicacy

An association that aims to protect Tianjin’s unique jianbing guozi — a snack consisting of deep-fried dough sticks rolled in a thin pancake — said it plans to start teaching foreign food fans how to make it.

The training course for overseas students will open in the city this year, according to Song Guanming, chairman of the Chinese Savory Crepe Association, which was launched in March.

He said the move is the result of international demand to learn more about the snack — which local historians say dates back about 600 years — and comes just a month after the association introduced standards for creating “genuine jianbing guozi”.

“After releasing the standards we did hear some criticism and ridicule, with people saying that a snack doesn’t need standards, while others accused us of trying the monopolize the market,” Song said. “But we also heard from many keen international gourmets, which inspired us to think about launching the training program.”

Since the founding of the association, food fans from Thailand, the United States, Australia and New Zealand have contacted Song for international cooperation or training.

Song said the masters will reveal the “secrets” behind the snack during the training for foreign fans.

“They will show them the time-honored techniques passed down for centuries,” he said, adding that the earliest use of the term “Tianjin jianbing guozi” was in 1929 in Ta Kung Pao, a national newspaper.

The association, which has 190 member companies and individual vendors, is part of the Tianjin Catering Association.

Song said the standards set for jianbing guozi labeled as the authentic Tianjin product include that it should have a diameter of 38 to 45 centimeters, be made with bean or millet flour, and consist of quality onion, egg and sauce. The rest is a secret, he said.

“The diverse ingredients such as sausage, cheese or even roasted duck found in jianbing elsewhere in the world are not the true flavor inherited from generation to generation in Tianjin,” he said.

Irishman Gilbert Graham and his Tianjin-born wife Jing Yi helped with translating the name of the Tianjin snack — Chinese savory crepe — and the association into English.

Statistics from the association indicate that an average portion of the snack in Tianjin costs 7 yuan ($1.10), with the city’s jianbing guozi industry worth 500 million yuan a year.