The first person to eat spicy noodles has been found! But this "national snack" is really recommended to be eaten less

Audit expert: Zhou Jiaojiao

Associate Professor, School of Food Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology

Spicy strips can be regarded as one of the Chinese people’s “national snacks”.

For many people, one of the things they look forward to most during their school days is going to the canteen after class to buy a bag of spicy noodles and share them with their classmates. When they grow up, although there are more snacks to choose from, they will still buy a bag of spicy noodles when they go to the supermarket to satisfy their cravings.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

I believe that almost everyone has eaten spicy strips now, and spicy strips have become a must-have product for household leisure and entertainment. Even people who have never eaten spicy strips can name a few spicy strips manufacturers. However, do you know who was the first person to eat spicy strips?

A few days ago, a topic about spicy strips was on the hot search list of Weibo - "The first person to eat spicy strips has been found." Netizens were surprised, "It's actually possible to find the first person to eat spicy strips" and "Finally we know who was the first to eat spicy strips"...

Source: Weibo screenshot

Who was the first person to eat spicy strips? How were spicy strips invented? How much knowledge and stories do we not know about spicy strips, a snack that we are very familiar with? Today, the editor will give you a detailed introduction~

How did spicy strips come about?

Speaking of the origin of spicy strips, it can be traced back to 1998. At that time, in Pingjiang County, Hunan, locals often made a food called Jianggan (also known as Xianggan), which used soybeans as the raw material.

However, that year a severe flood disaster occurred in Hunan, resulting in a sharp drop in soybean production and heavy losses in agricultural products. In particular, soybeans, the main raw material for dried soybean paste in Pingjiang County, were basically lost , which dealt a devastating blow to the dried soybean paste industry. What should be done?

At that time, there were three local people named Qiu Pingjiang, Li Mengneng and Zhong Qingyuan. They thought of a way to use flour instead of soybeans to try to make "dried soybean paste". As a result, they did not make dried soybean paste, but made a spicy food, which later became spicy strips.

They gave the first bag of spicy strips to the landlord's daughter, Ms. Zhang, who praised it highly the first time she tried it. This gave the inventors of spicy strips the confidence to launch spicy strips. As a result, the three founders of spicy strips were full of confidence and started an unprecedented spicy strip business.

Source: Weibo screenshot

Today, spicy strips have transformed from a "delicious alternative to dried bean sauce" to a popular snack with a market value of hundreds of millions, and the production of spicy strips has also changed. So how are spicy strips made?

Looking at the ingredient list of spicy strips, there are wheat flour, water, oil, salt, sugar, etc. It can be inferred that the production of spicy strips is generally to mix these raw materials in proportion, and then put the mixture into an extruder. The friction between the spiral rod inside the machine and the mixture generates heat, which makes the spicy strips larger, shaped, cooked, and formed into long strips of dough. After cutting into sections, chili powder, spices, etc. are added for seasoning, and the spicy strips are ready.

The proportions of ingredients in spicy strips made by different manufacturers are different, but generally some flavor enhancers, sweeteners and flavors are added to adjust the taste and aroma of the spicy strips.

Source: A shopping website

Spicy strips contain a lot of salt, sugar and chili peppers, which will bring us rich taste and pain experience when eaten, stimulate the brain to secrete more dopamine, make people more excited, and make people feel more pleasure.

Many parents regard this kind of food, which is "addictive" after eating, as junk food and avoid it and forbid their children to eat it.

So, are spicy strips really that harmful?

Why can't you eat too much spicy noodles?

There are rumors that eating too much spicy strips can cause cancer and affect liver function, but these claims have not been verified by scientific research.

However! This does not mean that spicy strips are healthy food. From the perspective of a balanced diet, spicy strips should not be eaten too much for three main reasons:

First, the fat content of spicy strips is high. According to the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", people should not consume more than 30 grams of cooking oil per day. The ingredient list of spicy strips sold online shows that every 100 grams of spicy strips has 25 grams of fat. If you eat a pack of spicy strips and then eat other foods, your fat intake will definitely exceed the standard (and often a pack of spicy strips cannot satisfy the appetite of foodies).

Source: A shopping website

Second, the salt content of spicy strips is very high. A certain brand of spicy strips has a salt content of 2563mg (2.563g) per 100g. The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" recommends that adults should not consume more than 5g of salt per day. After eating two packs of spicy strips, the daily salt intake exceeded the standard.

Third, the calories in spicy strips are high. For example, a pack of spicy strips of the brand above has 1821 kj (about 435 kilocalories) per 100g, which is higher than the calories in rice of the same weight.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Therefore, frequent consumption of spicy strips, high intake of oil, sugar and salt, will easily increase the risk of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and obesity, so it is true that spicy strips should not be eaten too much! But it should be noted that this is for health reasons, not because there is something wrong with the spicy strips themselves.

Regarding the production of spicy strips, the country introduced the industry standard for flavored noodle products (QB/T 5729-2022) in 2019, which put forward clear requirements for reducing salt and fat in flavored noodle products such as spicy strips, such as reducing the variety of food additives in spicy strips. Under the norms of the industry standard, we consumers have a safer guarantee when buying spicy strips for consumption.

But be careful, when buying spicy strips, you must buy spicy strips from regular manufacturers. In 2017, the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau Technical Center tested some brands of spicy strips, and the total number of colonies exceeded the national standard by 14 times! I thought I was eating spicy strips, but I didn’t expect to eat a lot of bacteria.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

In general, spicy strips are a common snack that is a good way to satisfy your cravings. As long as you buy spicy strips from regular manufacturers through regular channels, their safety is guaranteed.

In daily life, we should pay attention to a balanced diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, and reduce the intake of high-oil, high-sugar and high-salt foods in order to have a good body.

Some friends may ask, is there any healthy way to eat spicy strips? There is only one answer, that is to eat less. Spicy strips are delicious, but for the sake of health, it is better to eat less.

After all, snacks like spicy strips can only show their flavor if you eat them occasionally.