You Can Get Barbecued Ice Cubes As A Snack In China
Taking the "hot and cold" combo to the next level.
By Celine Low — 08 Dec 2023, 05:14 PM
Yes, apparently you can eat grilled ice cubes. It's a thing in Changsha, Hunan Province.
A viral video of a street food vendor serving grilled ice cubes as a snack began trending on Chinese social media, with one video garnering over 26,000 likes, reported The Straits Times.
The snack, which costs around 15 yuan (RM9.80), is made by grilling ice cubes over a grill and seasoning them with spices and sauce.
Watch a snippet of how the dish is prepared here:
The vendor in the video claimed that the puzzling dish was a specialty from Northeast China.
However, Newsflare reported that Mr Zhao, a drafter for the Heilongjiang Landmark Food Brand Identification Management Standards, debunked the claim.
"There is no such thing as grilled ice cube snacks in the northeast. This is a fabrication by the street vendor," he said.
For now, the exact origin of seasonings on the rocks remains unknown, but The Straits Times did mention that the dish was first documented as early as March 2021 in Harbin.
Another snack from China, stir-fried pebbles, also went viral a few months ago
The dish, called suodiu, is made out of river rocks stir-fried with chilli oil, garlic sauce, garlic cloves, and a mixture of spices. One serving costs 16 yuan (RM10), reported The Guardian.
In a report by the CNN, suodiu is translated to "suck and discard", which explains the way the dish is enjoyed — by sucking on the pebbles for the flavour before spitting them out.
According to Malay Mail, suodiu is believed to have been invented centuries ago. Stranded river boatmen cooked the stones with condiments to stave off their hunger.
