Yongjia Wheat Cakes, a Big Hit in the Heart of Paris

Flour, eggs, and vegetable oil are mixed and stirred, then kneaded into a bowl shape, filled with preserved vegetables and fresh meat, rolled flat and baked until both sides are golden... The fragrant Yongjia wheat cakes come out of the oven, and with a "crack" cut on the chopping board, the fragrant Yongjia wheat cakes are presented to the diners. Such a scene is not in Wenzhou, but in Paris, France, ten thousand kilometers away. Recently, Yongjia wheat cakes have been a hot seller in a Chinese restaurant in the center of Paris.

In Paris, a wheat cake sells for 50 yuan.

Not far from the Pompidou Art Center in the Chinese district of Paris, Wenzhou overseas Chinese Jin Xiaorong opened a restaurant called "Human Fireworks," where Yongjia wheat cakes are a major specialty dish.

Jin Xiaorong is from Bilan Town, Yongjia County. She went to France with her relatives in 1998 and has been in the catering industry ever since. Jin Xiaorong has a long-standing wish to be able to eat her hometown's wheat cakes abroad at any time. "Yongjia wheat cake is my childhood complex, but I can't eat wheat cakes in Paris," Jin Xiaorong said. She returns to her country once a year, and every time she goes back to Yongjia, she has to buy wheat cakes every day to satisfy her craving. At the end of last year, she went back to her hometown to learn from a wheat cake shop, and in March this year, she opened a restaurant in Paris. She said that this store was specifically for fulfilling her own wheat cake dream, and also sells Jinfen noodles, glutinous rice, fried rice noodles, lean meat balls, and other Wenzhou delicacies. She said: "Bringing the traditional delicacies of my hometown Wenzhou to Paris is something I have been thinking about for many years in France."

Jin Xiaorong introduced that the preserved vegetable stuffed wheat cakes sold in the store are priced at 6.5 euros, which is about 50 yuan in RMB. Although the price is not low, there are still many customers who come to the store every day to taste the wheat cakes, and there are even many repeat customers. She said that the store can sell an average of seventy or eighty wheat cakes a day, and more than a hundred at most, and the store employs two Chinese staff members who are not from Wenzhou, but have also learned to make Yongjia wheat cakes with her.

A table of French guests orders one wheat cake

The thin-skinned, large-stuffed, and greasy but not greasy Yongjia wheat cakes are the signature of Jin Xiaorong's store. Jin Xiaorong said with a smile: "The wheat cake is particularly fragrant when it is baked, and many passers-by are attracted. Seeing us making handmade wheat cakes in the store, they can't help but buy one to try." She introduced that there are many Wenzhou overseas Chinese living near the Chinese street where the restaurant is located, and there are always many Wenzhou people who come to buy wheat cakes every day." Foreigners like to eat wheat cakes on the spot, and Wenzhou people buy wheat cakes like they do at home, accustomed to taking them away. People who come to the store to buy wheat cakes like to act as'purchase agents' for their relatives and friends in Paris, buying several at a time." She said.

Jin Xiaorong said that almost every Wenzhou customer who sees the wheat cake can't help but exclaim that they are actually eating wheat cakes in Paris. She recalled that one noon, a young man came into the store with his mobile phone recording a video while speaking Wenzhou dialect, ordered a wheat cake, and said in authentic Wenzhou dialect: "This is our Wenzhou wheat cake, I didn't expect to eat wheat cakes in Paris, France!" Jin Xiaorong said: "When I heard him say this, I was very touched. It is a very fulfilling thing to bring the taste of my hometown to Paris."

In addition to Wenzhou customers, the fragrance of wheat cakes also attracts many foreign guests. When guests see wheat cakes, they often ask out of curiosity. Jin Xiaorong always introduces to French guests:"This is a special delicacy from my hometown Wenzhou, the food Wenzhou people used to eat when they were traveling through mountains and rivers." A table of French guests orders a wheat cake, the wheat cake is baked and cut into several pieces with a knife, served on a plate, and brought to the dining table. The food that Wenzhou people used to eat when they traveled south and north many years ago has now become a delicacy on the dining table.

Jin Xiaorong said: "The Paris Olympics are about to open, and the number of tourists coming to Paris is gradually increasing. The store is preparing to launch radish silk wheat cakes, taking this opportunity to promote Yongjia wheat cakes to more people from various countries."(ZhongXin)