''Mantou'' (), often referred to as Chinese steamed bun, is a white and soft type of steamed bread or bun popular in northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Folk etymology connects the name ''mantou'' to a tale about

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is ...

Description

''Mantou'' are typically eaten as a

staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard Diet (nutrition), diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of ...

in northern parts of China where

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, rather than

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, is grown. They are made with milled

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''bre ...

, water and leavening agents. In size and texture, they range from , soft and fluffy in the most elegant restaurants, to over , firm and dense for the working man's lunch. As white flour, being more heavily processed, was once more expensive, white ''mantou'' were something of a luxury in preindustrial China. Traditionally, ''mantou'', '' bing'', and wheat noodles were the staple

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may o ...

s of the northern Chinese diet, analogous to rice, which forms the mainstay of the southern Chinese diet. They are also known in the south, but are often served as street food or a restaurant dish, rather than as a staple or home cooking. Restaurant ''mantou'' are often smaller and more delicate and can be further manipulated, for example, by

deep frying Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. ...

and dipping in sweetened

condensed milk Condensed milk is cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of ''sweetened condensed milk'' (SCM), to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condense ...

. Colors and/or flavors may be added with other ingredients from

brown sugar Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined soft sugar. Brown Sugar may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Brown Sugar'' (1922 film), a 1922 British silent film directed by Fred Paul * ''Brown Sugar'' (1931 film), a 1931 ...

to food coloring in mantou making, often reserved for special occasions, when they are even kneaded into various shapes in

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-leve ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

, and

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

. Precooked mantou are commonly sold in the frozen section of

Asian supermarket In the West or non-Asian countries, an Asian supermarket largely describes a category of grocery stores that focuses and stocks items and products imported from countries located in the Far East (e.g. East, Southeast and South Asia). These st ...

s, ready for preparation by

steaming Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

or heating in the

microwave oven A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce ...

. A similar food, but with a savory or sweet filling inside, is ''

baozi Baozi (), Pao-tsih or bao, is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun in various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings (meat or vegetarian) and preparations, though the buns are most often steamed. They are a variation of '' m ...

''. ''Mantou'' is the older word, and in some regions (such as the Jiangnan region of China, and Korea) ''mantou'' (or the equivalent local reading of the word) can be used to indicate both the filled and unfilled buns, while in Japan the equivalent local reading of the Chinese word ('' manjū'') refers only to filled buns.

Etymology and history

Mantou may have originated in the Qin State of the

Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

during the reign of King Zhaoxiang (307 BCE – 250 BCE). Mantou as well as other wheat derived foodstuffs such as noodles, Shaobing and

Baozi Baozi (), Pao-tsih or bao, is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun in various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings (meat or vegetarian) and preparations, though the buns are most often steamed. They are a variation of '' m ...

became popular during the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

(206 BCE - 206 CE) and collectively were known as ; mantou was distinguished as or . During the Western Jin dynasty (265–316 CE), Shu Xi () wrote about steamed cakes () in his "Ode to boiled cakes" (), written around 300 CE. He first called them ''mantou'' (). In this book, it was advised to eat this in a banquet during the approach of spring. The Mongols are thought to have taken the filled (''

'') style of ''mantou'' to many countries of Central and East Asia about the beginning of the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

in the 13th century. The name ''mantou'' is cognate to '' manty'' and '' mantı''; these are filled dumplings in Turkish, Uzbek, (''mantu'') cuisines.

Folklore

A popular Chinese legend relates that the name ''mantou'' actually originated from the homophonous word 蠻頭 ''mántóu'', which literally means "barbarian's head". The legend was set in the

Three Kingdoms Period The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the We ...

(220–280 CE) when

, the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the state of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <

a campaign against

Nanman The Man, commonly known as the Nanman or Southern Man (, ''lit. Southern Barbarians''), were ancient indigenous peoples who lived in inland South and Southwest China, mainly around the Yangtze River valley. In ancient Chinese sources, the ...

forces in the southern lands of Shu, which correspond to roughly present-day

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

, China, and northern

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. After subduing the Nanman king Meng Huo, Zhuge Liang led the army back to Shu, but met a swift-flowing river which defied all attempts to cross it. A barbarian lord informed him that in olden days, the barbarians would sacrifice 50 men and throw their heads into the river to appease the river deity and allow them to cross. As Zhuge Liang did not want to cause any more of his men to lose their lives, he ordered his men to slaughter the livestock the army brought along, and fill their meat into buns shaped roughly like human heads (round with a flat base). The buns were then thrown into the river. After a successful crossing, he named the bun "barbarian's head" (''mántóu'', 蠻頭, which evolved into the modern 饅頭). Another version of the story relates back to Zhuge Liang's southern campaign when he instructed that his soldiers who had fallen sick from

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...

and other illnesses in the swampy region be fed with steamed buns with meat or sweet fillings.

Variations in meaning outside northern China

Prior to the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

(960–1279), the word ''mantou'' meant both filled and unfilled buns. The term ''

'' arose in the Song dynasty to indicate filled buns only. As a result, ''mantou'' gradually came to indicate only unfilled buns in Mandarin and some

varieties of Chinese Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of mai ...

. In many areas, however, ''mantou'' still retains its meaning of filled buns. In the

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

region where

Wu Chinese The Wu languages (; Wu romanization and IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] ( Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languages spoken primarily in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Provin ...

is spoken, it usually means both filled and unfilled buns. In

, where Jin Chinese is spoken, unfilled buns are often called '' momo'' (饃饃), which is simply the character for "steamed bun". The name ''momo'' spread to

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

and usually now refers to filled buns or dumplings. The name ''mantou'' is cognate to '' manty'' and '' mantı''; these are filled dumplings in Turkish, Persian, Uzbek, and Pakistani (''mantu'', originated from Turko-Mongol immigrants) cuisines. In Japan, ''manjū'' (饅頭) usually indicates filled buns, which traditionally contain bean paste or minced meat-vegetable mixture ( nikuman 肉まん "meat ''manjū''"). Filled ''mantou'' are called '' siyopaw'' in

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, ultimately derived from Chinese ''shāobāo'' ( 燒包). In Thailand they serve ''salapao'' (ซาลาเปา), a filled ''mantou''. In Korea, '' mandu'' (; ) can refer to both ''baozi'' or '' jiaozi'' (餃子). In Mongolian cuisine, the '' buuz'' and ''manty'' or ''mantu'' are steamed dumplings, a steamed variation is said to have led to the Korean ''mandu''. In Singapore and Malaysia,

chili crab Chilli crab (; Malay: ''Ketam cili'') is a Southeast Asian seafood dish that originated in Singapore in the 1960s. It is widely associated as the national cuisines of both Malaysia and Singapore. Mud crabs are commonly used and are stir-fried in ...

is commonly served with a fried version of ''mantou''. In

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, ''mantou'' are known as ''mãju''.

References

External links