They are all steamed buns, why do others cost 1 yuan while the new Chinese style steamed buns cost 8 yuan?

If you often browse Xiaohongshu, you will find that it is no longer popular to buy European bread. What is popular is the new Chinese steamed buns!

Let me show you some photos of the new Chinese steamed buns to give you a brief experience:

Little Red Book @恰嘴西红柿

At first I couldn't tell whether it should be called new Chinese steamed bun or new Chinese bread . Actually, this is a steamed bun with a bread "face", right? !

New Chinese steamed buns: Looks like bread, tastes like steamed buns

Steamed buns are originally Chinese style, so what does it mean to add the word "new" to them and call them New Chinese style? After looking around, I finally understood.

New Chinese steamed buns generally have the following characteristics:

1. Different from the simple white flour steamed buns we are familiar with, it looks more fancy and at first glance you might think it is bread.

2. The store is decorated like a bakery, but more refined.

3. It is more popular on the Internet, and most of those interested are young people.

A little-known new Chinese-style steamed bun shop in Hangzhou | Xiaohongshu @阿华三分甜

Salted egg and taro steamed bun rolls, banana cocoa and peanut steamed bun rolls, sweet-scented osmanthus and taro bagel steamed buns, Earl Grey tea milk shortbread steamed buns, wild blueberry bagel steamed buns, pumpkin cheese and bacon steamed buns... If you didn't see the word "mantou", you would really think you were in a bakery. Both the name and the appearance are very similar to bread.

New Chinese style steamed buns | Xiaohongshu @Chengdu Bu Tian Handmade

Although it looks like bread, it tastes like the familiar steamed buns, so some shop owners will write eye-catching slogans: "It's just steamed buns, don't expect too much!" The appearance of the new Chinese steamed buns is undoubtedly attractive, but no matter how good it looks, it still tastes like steamed buns. For Chinese people who are very familiar with steamed buns, if you pay for it with too high expectations, you may be disappointed when you eat it.

In addition to looking like bread, some stores even directly offer the combination of new Chinese steamed buns + coffee , which makes it difficult to distinguish from a bakery.

New Chinese style steamed buns with coffee | Xiaohongshu @悦漫馒头

After all, whether it is steamed bun or bread is not what people care about most. What people care about most is the price .

Compared with bread that costs more than ten yuan each in the bakery, the price of new Chinese steamed buns is indeed much cheaper, with an average price of 3 to 8 yuan per piece , but it is still expensive compared to traditional white steamed buns.

The price of the Internet celebrity steamed buns, plus the bakery's packaging - each bun is individually wrapped, given a bread-sounding name with an English translation (or pinyin), and served with drinks and coffee - can easily make the average customer spending more than 30 yuan. So, how many people who buy new Chinese steamed buns on a whim because of their appearance will repurchase? It's hard to say.

Not only the stores, but also the trend of the handmade circle has changed to "the end of handmade is steamed buns". In fact, rua fancy steamed buns are nothing new. I'm sure everyone has seen them before, but the fancy steamed buns we have seen before don't look like bread, but more like cartoon shapes.

There are also flower buns with a long history in Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi and other places, all of which contain a strong sense of imagination and creativity. It seems that the love of "playing with steamed buns" is engraved in the bones of us Chinese.

Colorful flower buns | Tuchong Creative

Steamed bun diet : highly discouraged, don’t follow the trend

Steamed buns are popular on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu, not only for their appearance, but also because many people think that "steamed buns are clean carbohydrates and can be used to lose weight" - they believe that compared to bread, steamed buns do not contain sugar and oil, so they are very "clean."

Breakfast: 1 steamed bun, lunch: 1 steamed bun, dinner: 1 steamed bun, and then he said that he lost several pounds in a week.

Steamed Bun Weight Loss Method | Image from Xiaohongshu

The "steamed bun diet" is quite popular, and many people who want to lose weight are eager to try it. Eating this way may indeed make you lose weight, but it is a malnutrition-type diet that will cause serious health problems and is highly discouraged! Moreover, even if you can lose weight this way, it is not because steamed buns are "clean carbohydrates", but because you eat less and consume less total calories.

Eating only steamed bread for three meals a day and consuming only a single nutrient will cause malnutrition, low immunity, less muscle, listlessness, and susceptibility to a variety of chronic diseases. Health is much more important than losing weight. If you really want to lose weight, you still have to rely on balanced nutrition and long-term persistence.

In addition, are steamed buns really the so-called "clean carbohydrates"?
If the standard for "clean carbs" is no sugar and no oil, then traditional white steamed buns can still be considered clean carbs.

However, the "new Chinese steamed buns" that are infinitely close to bread are not "clean" at all. Not to mention the various jams, sesame paste, brown sugar, cream and other fillings added for appearance and flavor, some of them even look high in sugar and salt - such as the fancy steamed buns with meat floss and bacon.

A recipe for a steamed bun shared by netizens, sugar and oil must be added | Image from Xiaohongshu

So, the "new Chinese steamed bun", after all, is still a refined carbohydrate mixed with sugar and oil . Let's just treat it as a snack.

Even for whole grain steamed buns, some people add sugar and oil for the taste . The best ones are whole wheat steamed buns without sugar and oil, but it depends on whether you are used to it... I personally think whole wheat steamed buns are better than whole wheat bread, and the texture is softer.

In short, don’t eat a single diet, eat a balanced diet.

Planning and production

Source: Food_Lab

Author: Silver Spear Little White Dragon

Editor: Lin Lin