Chinese Sesame Cake

Yep, combining cake and China, or even much of Asia in the same thought is likely to be met with a collective po-face.  Lest you forget I’ll remind you that there’s another definition of cake which has less to do with food– a dense, compact mass.  That sounds more like China, no?  Onward and upward…

Today’s comestible, 芝麻糖 zhī​matáng, or sesame candy, was discovered on a bridge in the village of Chikan, in Guangdong province; I implore you not to read it aloud as “chicken.”  The ingredients are few – white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds and sugar – but the impact is devastating.  What do I mean?  The woman selling this swell street food told me not to eat it fearing that it would make me gain weight.  How civilized.

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Care to dive into that pile of sugar?  Ants would too!