Fried dace with salted black beans

Fried dace with salted black beans is a canned food of Chinese origin. Cirrhinus molitorella (dace) is a fish from the Pearl River in China^[1] ‘Dace’ is a trade name of Cirrhinus molitorella while black beans are called “dau si” or “douchi”^[2] in Hong Kong and Guangzhou respectively. Fried dace with salted black beans is made by combining dace with salted black beans^[3] and preserving it in oil afterwards. During different periods of time, fried dace with salted black beans played a different role.

Black Bean oil Fried Dace fish in steamed rice

History

Fried dace with salted black beans originated in Guangzhou in China. In the past,before industrialisation of China in the 1950s begun, many Chinese from the Pearl River Delta region needed to go to Southeast Asia for work. They would fry the dace, preserve it with salted black beans and bring it with them because they were not used to eating foreign food. This tradition gradually transformed into a canned food business.^[4] The first canned fried dace with salted black beans was produced by Guangzhou Guangmaoxiang Canned Food Factory in China in 1893.^[5] This factory was evolved from “广奇香罐头厂” (the Guang Qi Xiang Guan Tou Factory), which was registered in 1912 in Hong Kong.^[6] In 2005, the Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department tested 26 samples of food, in which some of the samples of the canned fried dace with salted black beans were tested positive for malachite green, a carcinogenic chemical.^[7]

Ingredients and taste, and common eating habits

Ingredients and taste

There are seven essential ingredients in the canned product; namely fresh dace, salted black beans, vegetable oil, sugar, soybean sauce, salt and spices.^[8] The dace, preserved in vegetable oil, has a chewy texture with soft, edible, bones inside. It tastes well-seasoned with black beans and flavored with savory spices.^[9]

Common eating habits

Fried dace with salted black beans can be eaten cold straight out of the can or heated before being served.^[10] Other classical ways are eating with stir fried green vegetables, noodles or plain white rice.^[11][12] In addition, it is usually served with stir-fried Indian Lettuce.

Marketing strategies (i.e. style of packaging, target customers & available brands)

Style of packaging

The packaging of canned fried dace with salted black beans is simple and general. The containers are oval shaped.

Target customers

Fried dace with salted black beans has always been popular among the lower and middle income group. In the 1990s, the low income households had to squeeze their expenditure on food. They could afford buying fried dace with salted black beans.^[13] Furthermore, the middle income group would also use it during emergencies (e.g. when strong typhoon signals are in force or during tropical rainstorm which prevent people from going out to eat). Nowadays, the price range of fried dace with salted black beans is approximately from HK$14 to HK$21 (by observing one of the biggest supermarkets in Hong Kong), which is relatively affordable. Thus, fried dace with salted black beans has been a common dish among lower and middle class before and is still considered as one occasionally. Even though people can afford to buy more nutritious food instead of menial canned foods after the economic boom in 1970s, people from different financial background will also consume this kind of canned food due to its convenience and cheap price.

Available brands

Fried dace with salted black beans has many brands in Hong Kong. By random sampling, there are estimately 10 different brands of fried dace with salted black beans in one of the local supermarkets, namely, Bestbuy (超值牌), Goldendragon (金龍牌), Me House (米良屋), Jumbo (珍寳), Sky Dragon (天龍), Greatwall (長城牌), Ganzhu (甘竹牌), Pearl River Bridge (珠江橋牌), Yupin (御品) and Eagle Coin (金鷹錢).

In Australia, Yuefeng is one of a number of brands stocked in Chinese grocery stores.

The change of role

Around the 1960s, people in Hong Kong did not have a good living environment and family circumstances.^[14] They had low income and low purchasing power. Due to the low price, and the strong taste which can serve with rice without consuming other cuisines and long shelf life, canned fried dace with salted black beans became a very common food they had for meals. Sometimes, it would be cooked at home, which added warmth and nostalgic value to this dish. Fried dace with salted black beans was the collective memory for many people in Hong Kong.^[15]

However, people consumed less inferior food like fried dace with salted black beans nowadays. There are some reasons behind this. Firstly, after the economic takeoff in 1970s, the economic ability and social status of people in Hong Kong had improved. The rise in income and purchasing power had exposed them to more choice of food. Secondly, people in Hong Kong started to have higher education level. They would then take nutritional values of food into consideration when deciding what to eat. As many researches^[16] show that canned food lacks nutritional value because of the artificial processing, people consume less fried dace with salted black beans. Moreover, they would store a few cans at home for rainy days. On the other hand, fried dace with salted black beans became widely commercialized.^[17] It is mass-produced by different food companies and sold as a product on the shelf in supermarkets. It is now usually purchased in cans instead of being cooked at home because of efficiency and convenience.

References