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Introduction

A vendor spreads flour mixture into a pan to make Jianbing

Jianbing, (simplified Chinese: 煎饼; traditional Chinese: 煎餅; pinyin: jiān bǐnɡ) literally "fried pancake," is a traditional Chinese street food similar to crepes. It is a type of Bing generally eaten for breakfast and hailed as “one of the China's most popular street breakfasts.” The main ingredients of Jianbing are a batter of wheat and grain flour, eggs and sauces. It can be topped with different fillings and sauces such as baocui (薄脆 crispy fried cracker), chopped mustard pickles, scallions and coriander, chili sauce or hoisin sauce depending on personal preference. It is often folded several times before serving.

Jianbing is now spreading to the West and getting popular in cities such as New York, Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco. Western people also replicate Jianbing in their own styles.

History

Jianbing is originated in the Northeast of China. Its history can be traced back to 2,000 years ago in Shandong province during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD). According to legends, chancellor Zhuge Liang encountered the problem of feeding the soldiers after they lost their woks (traditional Chinese round-bottomed cooking ware). He ordered the cooks to mix water with wheat flour to make batter, then spread it on shields, or flat copper griddles over a flame. The dish raised the soldiers’ morale and helped them win the battle afterwards. After that, Jianbing has been passed down through generations in Shandong province and gradually spread to different parts of China.

Reasons for popularity

As one of the China’s most popular street breakfasts, Jianbing can be easily found in many cities. The characteristics of Jianbing account for its popularity in China and the West.

First, Jianbing is never ‘pre-cooked’. In order to preserve its crispness, customers have to wait for their turn, which often results in a queue. Since the preparation time of it is short, customers do not have to wait for a long period of time.

In the economic aspect, it is believed that watching the process of Jianbing being made can be an attraction for customers as they can see the raw ingredients come together to turn into a cuisine.

Also, Jianbing can satisfy different people’s tastes as it can be made of any ingredients and mixed with different sauces, jams and flavors in different proportion. According to the vendors outside East China Normal University, though some customers like spicy flavors and some do not like cilantro, they can create their own Jianbing.

It is also believed that the low cost of Jianbing is one of the reasons for its popularity as the basic ingredients of it are not expensive.

Besides, Jianbing is a type of Bing that has rich nutrient values. It contains abundant nutrients as it can be made of soybeans, mung beans, black beans, lettuce, peanuts and eggs.

The taste of Jianbing is the major reason for its popularity. Alisa Grandy, a western food vendor who serves Jianbing in Portland, describes Jianbing’s taste as fantastic and special because the combination of different ordinary ingredients makes the taste greater than the sum of them. In the book Food and Chinese Culture: Essays on Popular Cuisine, it is described that the look and smell of Jianbing Guozi are as good as its taste, and it tastes better when serving with green garlic and fermented flour sauce with the sweetness of its crispy layer.

Regional variations in China

The traditional Jianbing is originated in Shandong and flourished in Tianjin. Jianbing is basically made of flour and eggs with different fillings and sauces. As there are many variations depending on tastes and preferences in different regions, many cities have their own versions of Jianbing. Shandong-style Jianbing and Tianjin-style Jianbing are the two most common versions of Jianbing in China.

Shandong-style Jianbing

Jianbing from Shandong province tastes crispy and harder as its batter is formed from the flour mixture that mainly contains coarse grains such as corn, sorghum and millet. In the old days, people had Shandong-style Jianbing mainly by rolling it with scallions or serving it with meat soup. Nowadays, the variety of fillings are richer and differ according to one’s preference, for example, sweet potatoes, lettuce and pork are also used as fillings.

Tianjin-style Jianbing

Jianbing from Tianjin is a transformation of the Jianbing originated in Shandong. It is also called Jianbing Guozi (煎餅果子) and Guozi refers to its yaotiao stuffing.Tianjin-style Jianbing tastes softer as its crepe is made of green mung bean flour, which contains less gluten. Also, Tianjin-style Jiangbing is topped with youtiao (油條 fried dough stick), while the Shandong-style one sold by street vendors is usually topped with baocui (薄脆 crispy fried cracker).

Internationalized Jianbing

Jianbing is also served in the UK, US and Australia by Western vendors and young Chinese entrepreneurs. In the US, it has become one of the newest food trend and gains high popularity among Americans and Asian customers, particularly Chinese overseas students. Western vendors were inspired to start Jianbing business back home after their first taste in China.

Apart from the traditional Chinese Jianbing, some vendors in the US offer various versions of it to cater to American customers’ taste, such as vegetarian Jianbing and gluten-free Jianbing. Culture-crossing fillings like barbecue pulled pork, bacon, cheese, hot dogs and Spam are additionally provided to let customers create their own customized Jianbing.

Besides, fillings of Jianbing are diverse with new innovations. A food truck in New York called “The Flying Pig Jianbing” provides different filling options of Jianbing such as dried pork floss, pork belly and bamboo shoots. In another shop called Mr. Bing, the crepe batter is made of millet flour, buckwheat flour and purple rice. Many characterized Jianbing are also shown. For example, the cha chaan bing with peanut butter and condensed milk, and the Peking duck bingwith the duck sauce, cucumber chunks and duck slices are introduced.