赴湯主講：令人懷念嘅街頭小食仲記得夾餅嗎？炸魚球太好吃啦 #回憶究港 EP1

Hello everyone, I am Fu Tong. Welcome to the first episode of Memories in Hong Kong. In this episode, I will tell you about the street food I used to eat when I was young and my experience as a cook when I was young. When I was young, I lived in an old apartment with a long corridor. I had to walk for about 20 minutes to get to school when I was in school. I remember that there were a lot of buildings on the way. There were a lot of street food stalls in front of each building. There were also different kinds of food in the early afternoon and evening. The three uncles and aunts I often visited for breakfast were in front of my school. They had a stall selling pork sausage noodles. The pork sausage noodles were stuffed in a square stainless steel box. If you took it away, they would put it in a plastic bag. If you ate it next to it, they would give you a steel plate. Then put a piece of baking paper on top. Then put the pork sausage noodles on the baking paper. Cut it with a very large steel chopstick. Then put a lot of soy sauce on it. Sesame sauce, hot sauce, sweet sauce. Many times the sauce is more than the pork sausage noodles. When I was young, I was very happy when I saw the pork sausage noodles marinated in the sauce. At that time, the price was about one or two dollars. So two dollars is enough to eat a meal. Next to the pork sausage noodles stall, there was an uncle who sold deep-fried squid. Maybe many of you don't know what deep-fried squid is. According to the information, deep-fried squid is a classic snack from Hakka people in the 1950s and 1960s. Now it's getting less and less. Their production method is to pour the first layer of batter into a round mold. Then put some seasoned shredded turnip on top of the second layer of batter. Then put it in the frying pan and fry for about five minutes. After frying, put on sweet sauce and hot sauce. I remember that the deep-fried squid my uncle bought had a very strong pepper taste. So I didn't like it very much at that time. There is also a deep-fried sweet potato cake in his stall. The taste is very good. But I think his sweet potato is very thin. It's like eating a pinwheel. So I usually don't have enough money to eat other things. That's why I go to visit him. There is also a woman who sells glutinous rice. She is very special. She doesn't use a cart to push. She carries a wooden bucket. The rice is stored in the wooden bucket. Then it can be sold for one or two dollars. If you buy less than two dollars, she will put it in a plastic bag for you. If you buy more than five dollars, there will be a box inside. If I saw a classmate holding a box of rice, I would think that he is very rich. Her glutinous rice doesn't taste very special. But I like to use different ways to eat the rice she sells. For example, I will use two hands to compress the rice outside the plastic bag. Then it will look like a rice ball. Or I will use a stick to push the rice out of the plastic bag. I think it's fun. And this woman always asks my classmates in winter if they are full or not. If I say I'm not full, she will give me two dollars for a bowl of rice. So I think she is very nice. I always go to visit her. When it's time for school in the afternoon, the food is even more exciting. In addition to the small restaurants under our seats, there are also a lot of mobile small restaurants in front of my school. They will sell fish balls, siu mai, fried tripe, meatballs, stinky tofu, beef offal, lettuce fish, skewers, omelette, and eggs. There are also some foods that are no longer found in Hong Kong. For example, like fried fish balls. Fried fish balls are a popular street food in the 1980s. Don't think it's the same as fried fish eggs. The way they are made and the taste are completely different. Fried fish balls need to be mixed with flour with many kinds of fish. Then they are made into a dough. Then they are made into small pieces. The most special thing is that when the fish balls are just fried, they are very big. But after it cools down, it shrinks to a very small size. So I used to call it fried fish balls. At that time, they usually used chicken skin to wrap it up. Then add some sweet sauce or hot sauce to eat. The texture is very tough. Taiwanese call it Q-tan. I thought it was delicious when I was a kid. But when I was very young, it was actually very rare. Until now, I think it's almost extinct. Then there are fried fish eggs and fried fish cakes. Fried fish eggs and fried fish cakes are also very famous street food in Hong Kong. They are also mixed with eggs, sugar, butter, flour, and milk. Then they are made into a cake batter. Then they are put in different shapes of iron molds. Then heat it up. Fried fish eggs are made into a small round shape with a round iron mold. The texture is usually crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. And fried fish cakes are made with a lot of square iron molds. The texture of the ingredients is very different from that of fried fish eggs. It tastes a lot better than fried fish eggs. In addition, when eating fried fish cakes, butter, condensed milk, peanut butter, and sugar are added. The surface is covered with a lot of butter because there are a lot of squares. It tastes very rich. Until today, fried fish eggs and fried fish cakes are still very popular street food. And there are still a lot of different flavors. But I personally think that although there are many new flavors, it is always the fragrance that makes fried fish eggs and fried fish cakes a level higher. The combination of charcoal flavor and egg flavor is a perfect match. And the best charcoal-grilled egg I have ever eaten is made by my father. My father's fried fish eggs are not only not very sweet, but also the oven is very hot. So in a very short time, he burned the skin of the egg very crispy. And the inside can still maintain a very soft texture. And when you watch him cook, you pour the egg into the mold and put it on the charcoal. Finally, use a fan to blow it into shape and make it crispy. You will feel that the whole thing is very healing. This kind of visual enjoyment, the aroma of charcoal, and the taste of fried eggs are simply full of flavor. But a few years ago, he retired because he was too old. Now he can't eat anymore. Speaking of fried eggs, we can't leave out fried cake. Some people call it Hong Kong Pancake. It used to be a very popular street snack. Usually when you see an egg seller, you will see the shape of the egg. But now it's getting less and less. The way of eating fried cake and the sauce are actually similar to fried cake. It is mainly made with peanut butter, butter, condensed milk, or sugar. It's just that the skin of the cake is different. The cake is thinner than the pancake. And it doesn't feel like the pancake is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The whole piece is soft and soft. The texture is more like eating a cake. Eating fried cake and pancake are also competitive with time. Because when you eat slowly, the filling will drip out. And after a long time, the sauce and the filling will make the whole cake soft. I think these two snacks will make many people eat it. It's a very suspicious snack. But why are some products that are so suspicious to eat and can't be sold at a high price can become a cultural product in the hearts of Hong Kong people? Moreover, there was a fierce street protest for this culture. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were already a lot of small businesses on the streets of Hong Kong. At that time, many Chinese emigrated to Hong Kong, which made unemployment very serious and life difficult. So many grassroots citizens took to the streets to become small businesses in order to support their wives and children. Because street vendors saved a lot of rental costs, and the number of entries can be very small, so the cost of starting a business can be very low. And they can go to different places to sell. So this kind of low cost and flexibility provided a very important opportunity for grassroots citizens at that time. Also because their cost is relatively low, so the price they sell is also relatively low. So it soon became a very important consumer event in the lower class. In the 1970s, the development of Hong Kong industry was rapid, and the labor market needed a lot of labor. So at that time, the government began to gradually strengthen the control of small businesses, hoping to slowly turn these labor forces into industrial convenience. But at that time, the management would not kill the small businesses. When I was a kid, I followed my family for a while. After they finished work, I went to the streets to be a small business to help with the family business. I tried to follow my family to buy vegetables. At that time, I remember they took a basket of vegetables, and put a cloth on the ground. We weighed the vegetables one by one and put them on the ground. Then we shouted, one dollar for a kilo of vegetables, three dollars for a kilo of vegetables. After selling those two baskets of vegetables, we went home to sleep. Then I tried to accompany them to sell clothes. Those clothes were on a wooden car. Then we pushed the car to a place with more people. Soon, a lot of people would come and look at your clothes. At that time, we would go to the stalls to buy different things. But speaking of which, I think Hong Kong small businesses are a kind of group of people. In the past, as long as there was a first-class mobile small business on the street, the whole street would soon be a mobile small business. They sell food, clothes, and daily necessities. The connection between small businesses is very strong. Even when we were doing business, it was a state-run propaganda. But when the small businesses arrived, we scattered like flowing water and withdrew together. After the small business management team left, we went back to the original position and continued to sell. Some people were unlucky to be caught by the small business management team during the lockdown. Our neighbors or other stalls would try to go over and beg for mercy. See if they can beg for mercy, so that they don't have to be arrested or fined. At that time, the small business management team was actually begging for mercy. Often, it was fine to arrest one or two stalls. Or they would just charge the cars and let the people go. So our stall owners have an unsustainable formula. That is, we will take turns to be arrested by the small business management team. Or we will raise money to make some cars. When the small business management team comes to charge, we will give them some fake cars to keep our own goods. In this way, the small business management team will not be hard to deal with. We have also preserved a chance to earn a living. If you have experienced a lot of ghosts with this street, it will slowly form a common feeling. As long as our cars are pushed together, we are like a small team. Sometimes we will ask each other a few questions. Some will care about your family's organization. How did you come to Hong Kong? What is the situation at home? Of course, some of us will not take the initiative to communicate. We don't care much about each other's situation. We often call each other by some characteristics. For example, 高佬,潮州佬 We call each other like this. But we don't know the background of the other person. Sometimes when we are chatting with the neighbors, we will say, Do you remember that tall guy? He sells clothes. What's going on now? The neighbor will say, Bro, there are so many tall guys selling clothes here. I don't know who you are talking about. But we will chat happily. It is this kind of interaction between people that brings you the atmosphere. You don't care who you are gossiping about. Anyway, there are peanuts to eat, there is a story, talk here, share here. Just like this, it's been a while. In addition to the friendship between small and medium-sized businesses on the street, there is also a deep friendship between small and medium-sized businesses on the street. At that time, most of the people who came to visit us were not rich people. They can't afford to spend a lot of money. These small and medium-sized businesses can meet their living needs at a very low price. For example, if there are some families who can't afford to buy food or cook in time for work, they will go to the small and medium-sized businesses to buy some food for dinner. After visiting more and more small and medium-sized businesses, small and medium-sized businesses already remember what kind of customers they have. They are small and medium-sized businesses, they are peanuts, they are small and medium-sized businesses. Gradually, this relationship has become like a friend from a simple customer. So many times, they also take the initiative to help small and medium-sized businesses like us. For example, when we are in a hurry, they will help us look after the stall. Or when we see a small and medium-sized business management team outside the two streets, they will immediately become a soldier and shout, Go away! Go away! Hope we can get away and don't have to work for a few days. At that time, we were arrested once for about HK$500. After that, we lost all our tools, we lost all our goods, we had to break into the car again and go into the shop again to open the stall. So every time we were arrested, we lost our income for a few days. But don't underestimate the small and medium-sized business. At that time, many low-class people raised a family of a few through being small and medium-sized businesses. Some of them even bought a house, went into the shop to continue their business and got out of the low-class life. So small and medium-sized business represents the power of the upper class in our era, the spirit of humanity, and the spirit of hard work. So many Hongkongers think small and medium-sized business is a very important culture in Hong Kong. But in the early 90s, 90% of Hong Kong's industries began to decline. In addition to the financial crisis in the 90s, the problem of unemployment became very serious again. Many Hongkongers lost their jobs or their assets, and the low-class small business became their lifeline again. But at this time, the environment in Hong Kong is very different from the past. First of all, the fine is getting higher and higher. In the past, the fine was only a few hundred dollars, but now the fine is 1,000 or 2,000 dollars. This makes the cost of small business increase significantly, and it is difficult for them to bear. In addition, they often stay at this checkpoint for 24 hours, see a stall and pull a stall. Sometimes there are even more cases of beating small businessmen and violent enforcement. This kind of strict enforcement greatly reduces the space for small businessmen to survive. They could have a stall in the apartment every day, but only on holidays. In the end, only a few days left in the Lunar New Year holiday before they can come out to celebrate the Lunar New Year. In the Lunar New Year holiday, many restaurants will be closed, so there is an unpopular policy for many years. The small business management team will be more relaxed in the Lunar New Year holiday, so that the owners can set up a stall in the morning and have a New Year's Eve party at night. Our citizens can have more food choices, and can also enjoy the culture of small businessmen. However, in 2016, first of all, because there were more familiar small businessmen in Tuen Mun Liang Jing Village during the stall, they were suddenly surrounded by iron horses for cleaning the street by some managers and young people wearing masks. Moreover, the iron horses also blocked the outside of the mall and the passageway for traffic. Even if the residents want to go home, they are forced to walk on the street. So it caused a lot of dissatisfaction between small businessmen and the citizens, and then the managers started to argue with them, Some people picked up the iron horses and threw them to the managers. There was also a car selling beef offal that was fallen down. The food was all over the floor. Fortunately, no one was hurt. During the conflict, some managers were beaten to tears. But it was also reported that many of the managers surrounded a man and kicked him for a few minutes, and then uploaded the video to the Internet. At that time, some netizens saw that the body characteristics of the so-called administrators and their equipment were similar to those of the Hong Kong police. The government of course did not investigate, so the incident did not end well. In the end, the administrators agreed to open the road and let the citizens go home, and the incident was finally settled. And to talk about the most intense small-scale defense war, we must talk about the Yellow Crocodile Revolution in the same year. The incident took place from the first night of the first year of 2016 to the early morning of the second year of the first year. At that time, the Food and Drug Administration launched a large-scale operation to go to the Yellow Crocodile to harass the small crocodiles, and then had a conflict with the citizens on the scene. Later, many citizens saw the incident on the Internet and were not used to the government's rush to kill the small crocodiles, so they went out to the Yellow Crocodile to support the small crocodiles. After that, the police also supported the scene and used pepper sprays, tear gas and bullets to disperse the citizens. At this moment, the volunteers who have been suppressing the small crocodiles for many years finally broke out. So the protesters used wooden planks, bricks and trash cans to fight back, and burned a lot of objects to prevent the police from advancing. After a night of intense conflict, in the end, 90 police officers, 35 protesters and 5 journalists were injured. In the end, the police arrested 64 people, and many people were accused of rioting. The highest convicted person was sentenced to seven years in prison. On the morning of the second day, the then Chief Executive Liang Zhenying raised his head to condemn the incident, using rioting and rioters to describe the incident and the protesters. He said that the government would not ignore the violent acts of the wooden planks. But in fact, would they think about their shortcomings in the judicial system? For so many years, small crocodiles have been recorded in the city. When the economy is bad, there must be a lot of small crocodiles. Do you think people really like to be small crocodiles? It's like there's a movie saying, it's not up to me to decide how many crocodiles there are in the Beggar Gang. If you are really so wise and kind, why do you have time to be a crocodile? So if the authorities consider the vulnerable communities in the judicial system, provide sufficient support in the short term, and give the vulnerable communities an upper hand in the long run, how can there be so many small crocodiles in Hong Kong? Thank you for listening. If you have any childhood street food memories, please leave a comment and share with us. See you next time.