Chinese food 辣条的“国际网红”之路 | 中华美食

When I saw latiao for the first time recently, the writing on the packaging made me smile. “Life, studies and work are overwhelming. Have some latiao to calm down,” it read.
最近第一次看到辣条的时候，包装上的文字一下就让我笑了。那上面写着：“生活学习工作压力大，来包辣条冷静下。”

I’d never eaten any before, although I’d heard that they were a trendy snack in China. But after BBC News named it “the most popular snack for under-25s in China,” it really made me curious.
我以前听说辣条是中国的网红零食，但从来没吃过。不过自从BBC新闻称其为“中国25岁以下年轻人最喜爱的小吃”，我就好奇不已。

Just what is it that has made China’s young people so crazy for this cheap snack? With that question in my mind, I asked my Chinese friends to order some for me.
究竟为什么中国年轻人疯狂迷恋这种便宜的零食？带着这样的问题，我请中国朋友帮我买了点回来。

When I first opened the bag, I was surprised at how oily the snack was. It definitely makes a mess on your fingers – maybe I should have used a napkin or plastic glove to eat them.
第一次打开包装时，我就被辣条的油腻给震惊了。它绝对会让你的手指脏兮兮的 —— 或许我应该垫着纸巾吃或者戴上塑料手套。

I can’t really think of any food in my home country that’s similar to latiao. It’s made from gluten, the stuff that makes bread dough chewy, and it truly is a unique snack.
我真心想不出在我家乡还有什么食物跟辣条类似。辣条是用面筋做的，就是一种能让面团富有嚼劲的食材，的确是道很特别的小吃。

I was also surprised at how strong the smell was. I guess they’re made with a lot of spicy and strong ingredients – after all, latiao literally translates as “spicy sticks”.
我也对辣条浓烈的味道感到惊讶。我猜这里面加了不少香辣调料 —— 毕竟，辣条的字面意义就是“辛辣的棍条”。

When I bit into one, I immediately noticed that the texture was a bit strange. It was very soft and squishy. I think maybe all the oil caused it to become soft. It was also quite spicy, although this didn’t bother me as I really like spicy food.
咬了口辣条之后，我马上就发现口感有点奇怪，很湿软。我觉得口感变软是因为辣条里有油。当然辣条吃起来特别辣，不过没关系，我确实喜欢很喜欢吃辣的。

All in all, the latiao weren’t bad, but not very impressive either. That said, they seem to have gone viral online – the spicy sticks are “enjoying their 15 minutes of fame” globally, according to Xinhua News Agency.
总之，辣条还不错，但也没有很惊艳。即便如此，辣条似乎还是在网上火了。据新华社报道，辣条在全球“短暂成名”。

The snack leapt to national and international fame in 2016 when an overseas Chinese student posted a picture of his foreign classmates enjoying the snack online. Liu, a Chinese student studying in New York, said latiao has been his favorite snack ever since he was a child, but while he’s staying in the US, he has to order it online from China.
2016年，一位中国留学生在网上上传了一张他的外国同学吃辣条的照片，这一零食便在国内一炮而红，并走向国际。一名在纽约学习的刘姓中国留学生表示，辣条是他从小就爱吃的零食，尽管如今身在美国，他也会从国内网购辣条。

“As time goes by, more of my classmates are beginning to enjoy the snack,” Liu said.
“渐渐地，我的同学中有越来越多人开始吃辣条。”刘同学表示。

It seems that latiao is becoming more well known in the West thanks to social media. A search on video sharing site YouTube brings up many results of Westerners trying out latiao, with most of them commenting how unusual and strong the taste is.
看来是社交媒体让辣条在西方有了更高的知名度。如今在视频分享网站YouTube上面一搜，就能看到不少西方人试吃辣条的视频，大多数人都认为其口味独特又强烈。

This seems to be raising people’s interest though, as out of the top 10 Chinese snacks on eBay, four of them are different types of latiao. And when searching for “Chinese snacks” on Amazon, latiao is the first item to appear, although the price is a lot higher in the US – over $10 (66 yuan).
这似乎也激发了人们的兴趣，在eBay网站上的十大中国零食中，有四个都是不同种类的辣条。而在亚马逊网站上搜索“中国零食”时，辣条是网站上出现的第一个商品，不过价格在美国可要高多了 —— 超过10美元（约66元人民币）。

So, will latiao really make you “calm down”, as the packaging suggests? I don’t know about that, but if you’re feeling stressed from too much work, you could always try eating some Western snacks and uploading a video of your experience to social media.
那么，辣条是否会如其包装所言，真的能让你“冷静一下”呢？我不太清楚，但如果觉得工作压力大，你也可以试试一些西方零食，并把你的经历录成视频，上传到社交媒体上。