Spicy, sweet and curiously chewy, Chinese latiao -- literally "spicy strips" -- are made by cooking wheat flour dough at a high temperature and pressure.Despite their reputation as junk food, the snacks originally developed as emergency supplies have grown into an industry worth more than 60 billion yuan ($8.9 billion).The factory that AFP visited in Hunan province's Pingjiang turns out nearly 700 tonnes per day of the spongy, red-coloured strips, which look like squashed French fries covered in oil.
Spicy, sweet and curiously chewy, Chinese latiao -- literally "spicy strips" -- are made by cooking wheat flour dough at a high temperature and pressure © WANG Zhao / AFP
The plant's operator Mala Wangzi currently sells all of that domestically, but latiao have acquired new legions of foreign fans spurred by online enthusiasm for Chinese culture, or "Chinamaxxing"."Latiao are now exported to more than 160 countries worldwide, showing that the market is moving increasingly towards internationalisation," Li Manliang, Mala Wangzi's vice president, told AFP.Some brands have expanded into East and Southeast Asia, where they are growing rapidly, while consumers from the United States to Australia are snapping up the snacks in specialist grocery stores, e-commerce platforms and via TikTok.The country's largest latiao producer, Hong Kong-listed Weilong, made 117 million yuan from overseas sales last year, up nearly 50 percent from 2024.
