Mega Bread

I’m not sure what the Chinese name is for it, but there is a kind of huge bread often found sold on the streets of China that I have to admit is pretty tasty. It is not the kind of hearty whole grain material that I usually like but there is something satisfying about the approximately 3cm thick, chewy composite layers of this bread covered by a crispy and salted exterior.

The bread is often sold in large square slabs the size of a small coffee table, but you can also ask to buy only a quarter chunk, the size of which you can see in the picture above.

When I bought some in Jinan on my trip to Shandong recently I was reminded, however, of the fact that food hygiene is still not quite up to the standards one might want, especially for street venders. When I asked to buy a chunk of the bread, my vender took the slab of bread to the back of his pick-up truck and used the rusting metal back ramp of the vehicle as the fulcrum upon which he broke off the piece I requested.