The new street food dish that is all the rage in China is going viral on social media due to the uniqueness of its main ingredient: stones.
The dish dubbed as "the hardest in the world" is called soudui (suck and throw, in Chinese), and the recipe sold by street food vendors in China consists of sautéing small stones with a variety of vegetables and spices such as garlic, chili, rosemary and oil.
Diners pay around $2 for a portion, and as the name of the dish suggests, they suck on the stones to savor them and then discard them.
Videos of chefs making stir-fried rocks are the latest trend on Chinese social media.
https://t.co/0Np5SyRUBr pic.twitter.com/RcDMswDCbn— Johannes Maria (@llNQf7dLuT90CWw) June 26, 2023
Origin of the dish
Several reports indicate that the dish may have originated centuries ago in the central province of China because of food shortages suffered by Chinese boatmen. They were stranded in the middle of a river in the province and thus resorted to pebbles as food.
Do the stones have to be returned?
One of the main questions about soudui is whether they should be returned to the restaurant once the customer has finished sucking all the stones. However, once the dish is paid for, all the ingredients become the property of the diner, so cooks often reply that they can keep them as souvenirs.
A dish as popular as alcohol
A street chef was filmed while preparing the famous dish that is capturing international attention, and he claimed that soudui has become as popular a food option as liquor. Although it is unclear if this is true, more and more content creators are talking on social networks about this dish. The Chinese platforms Xiaohongshu and Weibo are filled with videos of people cooking or tasting the dish.
Jokes on the plate
Some users on social networks have made memes and jokes about the street dish, highlighting the dental problems it could cause if, by mistake, one bites into one of the stones, the creativity of the chefs, and even the danger of swallowing one of the pebbles.
Business idea— dental insurance pic.twitter.com/5cVycMVF4b
— Saqib Ahmed (@Saqib_hmed) June 26, 2023
Now imagine you’re really enjoying it and forget it’s a rock that you actually give it a good bite… pic.twitter.com/3tdOHtSJMO
— Michael (@MrPagliarello) June 25, 2023
— Jim Is Here To Take Care of Him (@RoastHimJim) June 26, 2023
