As a “living fossil” of the Chinese nation, traditional snacks are part of the folk culture passed down from older generations and can also be a “card” displaying the local lifestyles. In southern Beijing, there is a largest snack shop in the world called Wanfeng Snack, where people can not only taste the traditional snacks throughout China, but also feel the authentic Chinese food culture.

Located in the Lize International Financial Zone in Fengtai District and opened by Association of Beijing Traditional Snacks in 2010, Wanfeng Snack is dedicated to be an important window displaying traditional Chinese food culture for tourists home and abroad. Covering a business area of 16,000 square meters, it can accommodate up to 3,000 diners and has been rated as the largest snack shop in the world by China World Records Association in 2010.

In Wanfeng Snack, the first floor brings different traditional snacks from all over the country together, which are divided into Muslim snacks in the north section and ethnic snacks in the south section. The dining environment here is spacious and antique-styled with the decorations of old paintings, wooden plaques and old photographs.

The stalls are well organized in different flavors from different places in China. The prices are moderate in Beijing with an average of about 50 yuan ($7.5) per person. In addition, cash is not supported in the stalls, and people need to purchase a meal card for the payment.

Chinese Snack Museum on the second floor of Wanfeng Snack houses nearly 1,000 kinds of old objects and old photographs to record the history and development of centuries-old Chinese food culture. As the embodiment of Chinese food culture, the exhibits are in numerous varieties including anything related to “food” such as recipes, food stamps, coins, tea sets, wine sets, tableware, straw rain capes, bamboo rain hat and even mangers. Some are made with delicate craftsmanship while some are rough plain collected from ordinary people’s home.

It is also learned that Wanfeng Snack regularly organizes some interesting activities for experiencing traditional Chinese food culture, such as inviting experts and professors to teach how to make the snack “baked sesame cake”. Every year during the Spring Festival, it also holds the Beijing’s largest indoor snack festival with wonderful performances of paper-cutting and dough figurines making.

If you go

Admission: Free

Opening hours: 10: 00-21: 00

Address: No. 306 Wanfeng Road, Fengtai District, Beijing

Transportation: Walk 500 metres north along Wanfeng Road from Exit A1 of Subway Line 14’s Qilizhuang Station, or take the bus line 477, 77, 451 and get off at the “Yu Zhuangzi” stop.

Source: english.qianlong.com