Xiâolóngbāo (小籠包)

In June of 2011, the Shanghai government put the Xiaolongbao alongside 83 other folk arts on the list of the city’s “protected national treasures”. These delectable steam cooked, wheat flour, soup-filled and pork stuffed dumplings have been a sensational hit since they were first sold by a Mr. Huang Mingxian from a tea vending stand in Nanjiang City (a municipality bordering what was to become Shanghai) called Huxingting Tea House. They were first distributed and popularized at a restaurant called Nan Xiang Xiaolong Mantou, which still exists and is now part of Shanghai’s “Old Town”. The earliest recording of the dumpling being sold was about 100 years ago at the the end of the Qing dynasty (1875 AD- 1908 AD). Because of the location of its introduction, Xiaolongbao essentially instantaneously diffused throughout China and into the Western world. Shanghai was in the midst of becoming one of China’s biggest trading ports and was both the most populated place in China (75 million people), and the wealthiest. The convergence of Ocean from the east, the Yangtze River from the west, the Grand Canal from the south and the Silk Road from the north on Shanghai, made it a world hub of cultural and culinary diffusion. As a result Shanghai developed its own young eclectic innovative cuisine that is set apart from the rest of China’s eight sub-national cuisines. The Xiaolongbao and its cohorts are referred to accordingly as “Shanghai fusion cuisine. Xiaolongbao’s many components originated relatively close to Shanghai. Xiaolongbao also exemplifies many of the most important characteristics of regional and national Chinese cuisine. Xiaolongbao retains characteristics of authentic Chinese cuisine including the five flavors of Chinese cuisine- sweet, salty, sour, hot and bitter as well as the three aspects of Chinese culinary art: the color or aesthetic beauty, aroma and taste – dishes should include a main ingredient and two secondary ingredients of different colors.