SE Asia warms up to spicy Chinese cuisine

NANNING — A packet of spicy hotpot flavoring printed in both Chinese and Burmese attracted attention at the 5th Lancang-Mekong Business Forum held in early July in Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The raw materials for the condiment were imported from Southwest China's Chongqing municipality and processed in Myanmar's Yangon to suit the tastes of Myanmar's people.

"Spicy Chinese food began to appear in Myanmar 10 years ago," said Sean Yann, 37, a Chinese-Myanmar manufacturer of the spicy hotpot flavoring, in fluent Mandarin.

Yann said spicy Chinese hotpot was introduced into high-end restaurants in Myanmar after spicy mixed vegetables sold by Chinese people became popular locally.

In recent years, Chinese foods with a spicy and mouth-numbing flavor known as "mala" have gained ground in Southeast Asia.

This trend was also confirmed by Li Jing, a young man from Wenshan Zhuang and Miao autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan province, who went to Yangon University of Foreign Languages to study Burmese three years ago. He said Chinese hotpot is very popular in Yangon, with many shops on high streets selling malatang (food boiled in hot spicy soup) and spicy hot pot.

"Many Myanmar people can say 'hot pot', 'mala' and other Chinese words, which are also indispensable topics in our conversations with Myanmar friends," Li said.

As Myanmar consumers' love for the "mala" flavor continues to grow, Yann's company is working with local supermarkets to introduce its spicy hotpot flavoring.

Although the products cost 1.5 times that of local ones, they still sell 20,000 to 30,000 packets a month. Yann said a dozen similar spicy products from other brands are also selling well in local supermarkets.

According to data from China's e-commerce platforms Meituan and Dianping at the beginning of this year, online searches for mala and hot pot in Thailand had increased by 700 percent year-on-year. More restaurants featuring mala barbecue and hotpot have sprung up in the popular resorts of Bangkok and Phuket.

Zhuo Bingyue, who runs a Thai restaurant in Nanning, said that compared with spicy Thai food, the "mala" flavor in Chinese food is more complex and rich, a feature that is attractive to young Thais.

Driven by programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the scope of cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states has been expanding, with no impediments to trade and logistics. Foods with Chinese flavors such as mala are entering Southeast Asia in more diverse and efficient ways.

Infused with a rich aroma, the Yulin International Spice Trading Market in Yulin, Guangxi, sees an endless stream of trucks loaded with spices such as star anise and cinnamon. The annual trading volume of spices in Yulin is about 800,000 metric tons, and the related industry chain employs more than 100,000 people.

Yulin has grasped the opportunity to implement the RCEP and continuously expanded its trade with ASEAN countries in the field of spices, exporting more Chinese seasoning to Southeast Asia to satisfy the taste buds of the local population.

At the 5th Lancang-Mekong Business Forum, more than 100 industry representatives from the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation countries, including China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, discussed cooperation opportunities in the agricultural and food processing industries.

Suriyan Vichitlekarn, executive director of the Mekong Institute, said at the forum that in recent years, as infrastructure connectivity among the LMC countries has accelerated and logistics systems have improved, combined with surging food demand, changing consumption patterns and technological advances in food processing and packaging, the market and trade of the LMC countries in the food processing industry has continued to expand, bringing more room for future cooperation.

"China is a big market with unlimited opportunities, and we look forward to further exchanges and cooperation with Chinese enterprises in the future," said Kitti Supchukun, president of Thailand's agricultural corporation Grenades Biotech Co Ltd.

Xinhua