Have you ever seen adorable girls peddling great looking snacks on the street in Tongxiang? I bet you do. But do you know the anecdotal tales of those girls and their delicacies? Actually, these stories happened hundreds of years ago.

By:  Shelbie  管时  120909137  Class 1

During the MIng Dynasty, there was a Zhang family who owned a pastry store called Tianshun in the town, selling crispy pastries for their living. The storekeeper known that the secret they did excellent business was their special recipe. Just the same as all the other families in old China, only the son and his wife could know what the special recipe is. The little sister, who would be identified as a member of another family when she get married and move in with her future husband, was forbidden to know the recipe. The little inquisitive girl felt really disheartened cause she always wanted to do some help to the family business.

Once, a sudden rain came when the sister-in-law was busy preparing the stuffing, she rushed out to pick up their clothes outside the gate. The little curious girl then secretly sprinkled salt on the stuffing as a mischief out of her years of jealousy . But surprisingly, all the customers came back the next day, praising the yummy taste of yesterday’s crispy pastries. After everyone figured out what was all that about, the father made a decision – impart the special recipe to the little girl and give the yummy crispy pastries a new name called “Gusao pastries”. In later days, the girl and her sister-in-law worked together on making “Gusao pastries”and became really intimated. From then on, both the “Gusao pastries”and the interesting tale became more and more famous in the town. As we could see in this old story, girls always have lovely personalities, no matter in the old days or in nowadays; If you are also interested in this dulcet “Gusao pastries”, here is the link.

The other famous local snack which have a tale with girls is called “Malt Glutinous Rice Cake”. Only when on every year’s Tomb-sweeping Day in Jiangnan Region, women go pick cudweed and malt to make “Malt Glutinous Rice Cake”.

According to legend in waterfront town culture, the glutinous cake which only supplied on time of Qingming, is Chinese Silkworm Flower Goddess’best favor. You can still see adorable girls peddling “Malt Glutinous Rice Cake” on the street during the Qingming Festival, it is the same as the scene of the street once upon centuries ago. The wish in girls’ hearts are all the same – waiting for the Silkworm Flower Goddess! They do believe one of their customers is the goddess! Next time when you are buying “Malt Glutinous Rice Cake”from those adorable girls, make sure you won’t forget to notice whether they are smiling at you or not. Cause if they are really smiling, maybe they believe you are the Silkworm Flower Goddess from the legend! In consideration of the Tomb-sweeping Day has already passed, here is the link of the cooking method of  “Malt Glutinous Rice Cake” for you.

Right here in Tongxiang, hundreds kinds of yummy snacks are waiting for your tasting, you can find them everywhere in the town.

Also, if you are a indoorsy person just like me, the best recommendation for you to get these snacks is online purchasing, or learn to cook them in your kitchen!