Sunday, December 6, 2009

Sugar Art Tradition in China


During my visit to Suzhou, China a few weeks back, I noticed people carrying and eating popsicles made out of sugar on the street. Ever curious about local street-foods, I sought out the creator and found this unique vendor who makes amazing works of edible art right in front of your eyes.

Apparently, sugar art has a long cultural tradition in China going all the way back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Some of the sugar art masters were highly esteemed for their extremely intricate pieces that resemble blown and stained glass.

Even though it was far from something you'd find in a museum, my sugar art popsicle was still impressive and it only cost about 40 cents.

I was lucky to capture the whole process of how he made it... take a look. I'm somewhat tempted to try my own hand at making decorations on my own, although past traumatic experiences with attempting to make caramel suggest it would be a disaster.



Have you ever seen a unique street vendor in any of your travels? Do share... we'd love to read about it.

6 comments:

my Hotel Life said...

That's pretty cool. I'm going to show this to our chefs.

Shannon OD said...

That is so neat! I love that you got that video of him making it! :-) Hope it tasted as good as it looked!

Chris and Amy said...

That was awesome! It was cool how from the first stroke it looked like a fish.

Kirsten said...

That is so interesting. I am racking my brain and I can't think of any street vendors I've seen that are particularly interesting!

Liza said...

I have to go there when I visit China. How awesome!

Ekua said...

Very cool! That guy has talent. I like the wheel of fortune method for choosing what to make. Awesome that you had your camera with you to share this with us!

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