Master chef creates elaborate 'flower buns'

By Guo Xiaohong: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, September 17, 2022

Tong Guohua is making a heart-shaped flower bun cake. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Artistically decorated steamed buns, flower buns are considered steamed work of art as they can fulfill food, visual and etiquette functions. They are common in China’s Yellow River region, in provinces like Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi and Henan in particular.The making of flower buns borrows a lot of insights from China’s folk painting tactics.

Tong learned to make flower buns from her mother and grandma when she was young. She was happy and proud to see her family’s flower buns popular among the villagers at festivals, weddings, birthday feasts and other traditional family events, so she became more active in helping her mother and grandmother. That helped lay a solid foundation for becoming a steamed bun master and planted the seeds of inheriting her family’s cultural heritage.