Wotou facts for kids
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| Alternative names | Steamed corn bread, Wowotou |
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| Type | Bread |
| Place of origin | China |
| Region or state | northern China, Beijing |
| Main ingredients | Corn flour, (or millet flour and soybean flour) |
| Wotou | |||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 窩頭 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 窝头 | ||||||||
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Wotou or wowotou is a special kind of steamed bread from Northern China. People sometimes call it Chinese cornbread. It's usually made from cornmeal, which is flour from corn.
Contents
What Does "Wotou" Mean?
The name "Wotou" literally means "nest thing" in Chinese. This is because the bread has a unique hollow cone shape, which looks a bit like a bird's nest!
A Royal Legend: The History of Wotou
Wotou used to be a simple, cheap food for people who didn't have much money. But there's a famous story about how it became a dish served in the fancy Imperial Kitchens!
Empress Cixi's Discovery
The legend says that during a difficult time in 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi had to leave Beijing. She was traveling to Xi'an because of a conflict called the Boxer Rebellion. During her journey, she was very hungry. She was given some simple corn buns, which were wotou, and she loved them! They helped her feel full.
From Simple Snack to Imperial Dish
When Empress Cixi returned to Beijing, she missed the tasty corn buns. She asked her Imperial chefs to make them for her again. The chefs then used better ingredients to make a more refined, golden-colored wotou bun. This special version became one of the dishes served in the palace! Its full name was the "Royal Wotou" (宮廷小窩頭, gōngtíng xiǎo wōtóu). This shows how a humble food can become something special.
How Wotou is Made
Wotou is shaped like a hollow cone. To make it light and fluffy, people often add a little bit of sodium bicarbonate, which is like baking soda. Without it, the bread would be quite heavy.
People have made wotou using different types of flour over time. Sometimes it's just corn flour, but other times it might include millet flour or soybean flour.
