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Prepared by Karen

Have a taste of spring with Xiamen's ultimate fast food

Chun Juan or "Spring Rolls" is a fried rolled pancake filled with slices of various vegetables, meats and seafood. The local people of Xiamen called it "Bao Bing" and like to have them as traditional snacks. Xiamen spring rolls are the ultimate fast food. The whole process was done in less than half a minute! A thin wheat pancake wraps up a delicious cooked filling made from mainly vegetables, and on Qingming, the Tomb Sweeping Day when most families will not start the fire on the stove, it is the perfect dish.

Fried Spring Rolls

Unlike fried spring rolls, which are generally smaller and crispier, Xiamen spring rolls are not fried, but bigger, and always savory. Apart from the vegetables used, which include radishes and cabbages, in the coastal cities of Fujian, seafood like oysters, prawns and fish are used as well.

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The rolls are traditionally eaten on Qingming, where families visit the tombs of their ancestors. It is a festival which is also known as Cold Food Day (寒食节),

since most families will not be cooking that day. After cleaning the graves and paying their respects, families would return home and wrap the prepared filling with the pancakes and make a meal of it. This tradition began in China from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), and is still observed faithfully in Xiamen to this day. The first bite is always juicy, and the novice may actually make a mess of it, but that's part of the fun of eating a tender and delicious Xiamen spring roll.

The original, genuine recipe of spring rolls has been so poorly disseminated that it seems that only those residing in Southern Fujian know and appreciate it. Among them are the people of Xiamen and Quanzhou. While both make Southern Fujian their homes, they have different interpretations of the recipe and have always been competing with each other as to which tastes better. A

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fortuitous result is that both styles have been improved, refined, and have ultimately flourished. Those from outside the province, even those who have had years of experience working in Xiamen, may as well be complete strangers to the genuine Xiamen Spring Roll.