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Website links to
Beifan Associates
Tong Mu Homepage.
Places to go and see.
Beifan.com
Metcn8.com.
Beifanchina.com.
Chinadan.com
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Fragrant Aroma Of Healthy Snacks In Tongmu Market For Farm Produce.
When we were walking to the farm produce market in Tong Mu we were immediately attracted by the smell of healthy snacks being cooked at some of the street stalls. Our visit to Tong Mu in China was not planned nor expected but the day spent in doing so, was one of those never forgotten days. We had travelled from Huai Hua to Pai Lou to visit friends. We had travelled by car with a lady driver who showed she was quite capable of dealing with the events during the journey. Pigs, Buffalo, and people on streets of town markets we passed through, all seemed to have their own highway code. This was no problem for the lady driver. When we arrived in Pai Lou, my friend said that his young nephew and family had moved to Tong Mu. It was then decided to pay them a visit as we already had a car at our disposal. From Pai Lou we got on the road that would have taken us to Guilin, then at a junction of the road to Tong Mu, the traffic came to a halt, due to roadworks. The work was all very labour intensive, sometimes they are farmworkers doing other work during their quiet months.
We were held up at the junction for 30 minutes or so, but then were mobile again and arrived in Tong Mu. From the parked car we walked to
the home of my friend's nephew and family, and were soon passing local people selling small quantities of farm produce, or busy cooking healthy snacks to sell to the market visitors. The home of my friend's brother and family, had living quarters on the first floor, above a shop. On the first floor there was an outside balcony overlooking the main street on which were erected other stalls selling farm produce, and other goods. At some stalls, owners were cooking healthy snacks and drinks, so no visitor with a few cents to spare needed to go hungry!
Steamed Bread Rolls With Fillings, Lunch Food Prepared At Street Market.
Looking down from the balcony of the home in Tong Mu, we had an excellent view of the activities taking place on the main street of the town.
Farmers at their stalls selling their fresh produce, women at the stalls wearing the traditional straw hat, better known as coolie hats, which were made by many workers in Tongmu. Some coolie hats were made in workshops, some coolie hats were made in family homes. The road below the balcony was in a continuos bustle. Donkey carts arrived loaded with farm produce for the stalls, people were coming and going to the town market all day. I asked my friend how often the market was held and he said, 'Every three days.' I expected him to say every week, or every month, so every three days was totally unexpected. Perhaps it is something to do with traditional Chinese culture, and their different calender.
All the ingredients used in cooking snacks seems to be part of traditional Chinese culture; all the ingredients must be fresh; all the cooked food must look attractive; all the cooked food must appeal to the decerning palates of the people. When we first arrived at the home of my friend's brother, tea and cakes were laid on a low table before us. It was of course Chinese tea with no sugar and no milk, and the cakes looking very attractive, were not over sweet. You did not have to go to the markets or restaurants for healthy snacks because they were all available in the homes. The same custom was applied when we visited other friends in Tongmu; tea and cakes were soon laid before us.
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