Visiting a temple fair is one of the best ways to experience Beijing's old customs and traditional Chinese culture. For those gourmets who want to have a tasty bite of China, temple fairs also offer a delicious feast of snacks and food from throughout the country.
Fried stuffed sausages
Price: 5-10 yuan
Fried stuffed sausages (Guan Chang), with a history dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), are the most popular local snack in Beijing. Traditionally, the sausage, a prepared pork intestine, is stuffed with a paste of flour or starch mixed with spices. The sausage is then boiled and cut into cubes or slices to be fried and served with garlic sauce.
Lamb kebab skewers
Price: 10 yuan for 3-4
Nobody can resist the shiny color, unique flavor and aroma of lamb kebab skewers (Chinese: 羊肉串 or yangrou chuan), which are hot items at the temple fairs. The booths with the best locations, rented at a very high price, are usually the ones to sell this the savory snack.
Stinky tofu
Price: 10-15 yuan per serving
Stinky tofu, a very strong-smelling (almost putrid) food, is an iconic staple snack that you will never forget once you've tried it. The fermented bean curds fall into various categories, white or black. It's easy to find the booth; your nose will lead the way.
Chatang and Youcha
Price: 5-10 yuan per bowl
Chatang, literally "tea soup," enjoys a very misleading name since it actually has nothing to do with tea. It's actually seasoned flour mush made from sorghum flour or broomcorn millet. The traditional gruel, common to both the Beijing and Tianjin cuisines, is served with brown sugar and preserved fruits. Youcha is another old Beijing flavor, with boiling water poured into the bowl containing the flour fried and added butter to create a past-like mush. It's served with white sugar.
Sugar-coated haws on a stick
Price: 5-15 yuan per stick
Sugar-coated haws on a stick (tanghulu) have a sweet-‘n-sour taste to them and are another extremely popular traditional snack. The delicacy, with a history dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), often reminds Chinese adults of their childhood. Apart from the most often used haws, various fruits -- Chinese yams, cherry tomatoes, mandarin oranges, strawberries and kiwifruit -- are also known to be used for the yummy tanghulu.
Sour and spicy sweet potato noodles
Sour and spicy sweet potato noodles, made from the starch of sweet potatoes, are dubbed "China's No. 1 noodles." The appetizing snack, originating from Chongqing Municipality, is favored by many for its exceptional flavor.
Squid fried on iron plate
Price: 10 yuan per stick
The squid fried on an iron plate will be cut into slices and served with a special sauce. It's tender and appetizing.
Fried ice cream
Price: 10 yuan per serving
Fried ice cream is a dessert consisting of a bread crumb-enveloped ice cream ball which is quickly deep-fried, thus creating a gold-colored crispy shell around the still-cold ice cream. Raw egg mixed with starch may also be used to wrap the solidly-frozen ice cream ball.
Oyster omelet
Price: 15 yuan
The oyster omelet, a snack popular in Taiwan and Fujian, is famous for its aromatic and addictive taste. The snack consists of an omelet filled with small oysters, served up with ketchup or hot and sweet sauce. Potato starch is mixed into the egg batter to give the egg wrap a thicker consistency.
Juicy beef balls
Price: 10-15 yuan
Juicy beef balls, with a history of nearly two hundred years, are said to be invented by a certain Wang Family in Songjiang Ancient Town of Shanghai. The food was later introduced into Hong Kong and became a famous cuisine there. The meat balls, made with a secret formula and special technique, are juicy, supple and flavorsome. Caution needed though! Randomly bite into one and the burning soup inside will instantly gush out.
