Pow! Pow! Pow! That’s the unmistakable sound of sān dà pào (literally “three big gunshots”) being prepared. It is the only street food I know that involves sound as an integral part of its identity, and for this reason it holds a special place in my heart. It is more than just a snack—it is an experience with an essential theatricality. At its core, sān dà pào is not much more than a ball of glutinous rice coated in soybean flour and topped with a sugary cola-colored sauce.
Ah, but how does the rice ball get coated in the soybean flour, I hear you asking? Good question—here’s where it gets interesting. A sān dà pào stall will usually consist of a container of pounded glutinous rice, a large red drum with dish-sized brass cymbals attached (sort of like a giant tambourine), and a wide, shallow basket of soy flour. When you order sān dà pào, the vendor will tear off a chunk of sticky rice, form it into a ball, and hurl it at the face of the drum. As it bounces off of the drum skin and into the basket of soy flour, the drum booms and the cymbals rattle in a satisfying racket. An order of sān dà pào comes with three rice balls, which the vendor will throw in rapid succession to create the namesake three gunshots (unless the vendor is feeling a bit more lethargic like the one in my video, in which case it is a more leisurely volley). Once the rice balls have rolled down the slanted basket, they are sufficiently coated in soy flour to be transferred into a bowl where they are covered with a sweet sauce and served. Here's the whole process:
The rice balls are soft, dense, and squishy, with a mild sweetness. The soy flour coating keeps them from sticking together and gives them a powdery dryness and nearly imperceptible nutty flavor. Inexplicably, the sticky red syrup on top reminded me of a combination of Dr. Pepper and barbecue sauce. Who knows why. On their own, sān dà pào are a reasonably pleasant snack; with the addition of their clamorous preparation, though, they enter into the realm of particularly memorable street foods. If you like your dinner with some din, your snack with some crack, or your chow with some pow, you won’t want to miss Chengdu’s sān dà pào.
Here's a neat documentary created and published by CET Academic Programs about street food in Beijing:
The video starts with some man-on-the-street interviews asking folks some questions about street food in China, including questions about the health and provenance of the food. Unsurprisingly, most people enjoy the food but are skeptical about the quality of the ingredients. The video creators took it upon themselves to talk to some vendors about where they got their supplies, and then they went to the market to talk to the suppliers. I was pleased (as I'm sure you will be) to hear their conclusion (around 8:37 in the video):
"We thought that visiting Xing Fa Di would unearth some underworld of street food mayhem. We thought the market would be a mess of chemically treated vegetables and rotting meat, but it wasn't. Contrary to popular belief the vegetables were clean and the meat was fresh. It's true, not every street vendor is as picky about buying ingredients as the vendors we talked with. But, Beijing street food is more or less clean." (Emphasis mine.)
As regular readers will know, this has been my experience, too. There's no doubt that unscrupulous vendors are out there deceiving people about the quality of ingredients, lying about what they are feeding customers, using gutter oil, or otherwise harming consumers, but these nefarious nogoodniks are the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, if you use common sense you will be fine.
This documentary is an interesting look at a side of Chinese street food that we don't often see; it is definitely worth a watch. Great thanks to CET Academic Studies (and CET China Studies in particular) for creating this video and for their permission to share it here. Keep up the good work, CET!
I have just learned that lovers of street food have a high-profile name on their side: Republican Presidential Candidate Jon Huntsman! Huntsman, who until recently was the United States Ambassador to China (appointed by President Obama), described his love of street food (he calls it an "addiction" at one point!) in a video on his campaign site. Really! He devoted an entire two-minute video to his love of street food on this site that is designed to get him elected as the leader of the free world. Amazing! You can see the full video at this link (unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be embeddable).
Huntsman attributes his love of street food to his time spent in developing countries. "Street food is so fresh, and it's so good, and it's so cheap," he notes. He talks most extensively about tacos, but with the amount of time he has spent in China he undoubtedly has some great stories about Chinese street food. If you happen to be the kind of person who uses "love of street food" as your guiding factor in deciding whom to vote for, it looks like you've found your man.
My name is Frank Kasell, and I am the author of a book about Chinese street food. This blog is the companion piece to the book. Here you will find street food reviews, occasional notes on Chinese culture, amusing anecdotes, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
My book--Chinese Street Food: A Field Guide For the Adventurous Diner--is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon and your local independent bookseller.
