luosifen listed as China’s intangible cultural heritage

China’s Ministry of Culture released the Fifth National List of Representative Elements of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China on Thursday, adding 185 items to the list, including the skills involved in making luosifen, the iconic noodle soup from south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Shaxian snacks, delicacies originating in Shaixan County in southeast China’s Fujian Province.

The items are organized into nine categories: Folk Literature, Traditional Music, Traditional Dance, Traditional Opera or Drama, Narrative or Storytelling Traditions, Traditional Sports or Recreational Activities and Acrobatics, Traditional Arts, Traditional Handicraft Skills and Folk Customs.

So far, the State Council has added a total of 1,557 items on the list of National Representative Elements of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

From local snack to online celebrity

Luosifen, or river snail rice noodles, is an iconic dish known for its pungent smell in the southern Chinese city of Liuzhou. The smell can be repulsive for the first-timers, but those who try it say they can never forget the magical taste.

Combining the traditional cuisine of the Han people with that of the Miao and Dong ethnic groups, luosifen is made by boiling rice noodles with pickled bamboo shoots, dried turnip, fresh vegetables and peanuts in spiced river snail soup.

It is sour, spicy, salty, hot and stinky after being boiled.

Originating in Liuzhou in the 1970s, luosifen served as an inexpensive street snack that people outside of the city knew little about. It was not until 2012 when a hit Chinese food documentary, “A Bite of China,” featured it that it became a household name. And two years later, China had the first company to sell packaged luosifen.