The great search for you tiao (AKA Chinese donuts) 油条

I spent part of my childhood in China. Beijing actually. Most of my memories involve family, friends and images of Beijing. Much of these memories are beginning to fade, so I'm always keen to trying to recover a fading image. One of the things I remember vividly is getting to school on my Mother's bicycle. I would sit in the back and watch the world go by as she rode half an hour from our apartment to my elementary school. I think my first culinary adventures happened on that bicycle seat. Typical breakfast items for me would include "jian bing", or Chinese omelettes (煎饼), fried veggie balls (炸丸子) and "you tiao", or Chinese donuts (油条). The vendors for these breakfast delicacies always had a tricycle, attached to which is a mini-cooking station where they can cook up the items to your liking.

Not as prevalent as twenty years ago, one can still find jian bing vendors late at night on the streets of Beijing. However, you tiao vendors are more difficult to find, at least for Too Much Food. Much to my disbelief since moving to Beijing, I can't find you tiao vendors anywhere! Granted, compared to jian bing or those veggie balls, you tiao is more firmly placed in the "breakfast" category, and not "all-hours-of-the-day-snack" category, but even at 9AM, I've never seen any you tiao carts milling about.

So one recent morning, after waking up at 6AM and not being able to go back to sleep, I went on a great adventure in search of you tiao in Beijing.

First stop, the entrance to my apartment complex. Normally packed with carts selling various fruits and street food, it was eerily quiet the morning of my great hunt. Only one stand was there, selling a crepe-like dan bing (蛋饼). I went up to the dan bing vendor and asked if she knew of a place selling you tiao. Predictably, as soon as she realized I wasn't buying any of her breakfast items, she quickly lost interest and provided no help in my search. Not to be deterred, I head to the street to find a couple idle taxis parked along the curb. If there's anyone in this town who knows where things are hidden, it's the taxi driver. Beijing taxi companies employ only drivers who possess a Beijing hukou, or citizenship. Call it discrimination, but the good thing is when you need to get some place fast they know exactly where it is and how to get there. But i digress. As I walk towards the taxi drivers, they see me and get ready to take their customer to his preferred destination. However, this morning, I trumped them. They had no idea where I can find my breakfast. Frustrated, I got in the taxi and just told the taxi driver to start driving, and sooner or later, I figure, I'm bound to find a you tiao stand.

It was definitely more "sooner" than "later", as to the surprise of both the taxi driver and I, right after he turned the first corner, there was a breakfast place with an old man making you tiao outside. Well, for what it's worth, the you tiao wasn't half bad.