Guangbing (Garrison Cake)

Guangbing is a round flatbread baked against the wall of a clay oven, often sprinkled with sesame and pierced with a small central hole; dry and fragrant, it keeps well, and the most traditional version has no filling.

Legend holds that during the Ming dynasty the general Qi Jiguang had this cake made as portable field rations for troops fighting coastal pirates; soldiers strung the holed cakes on cords to carry them, and later generations named it guangbing after the general.

It can be eaten plain or split and filled with laver, dried shrimp, wine-marinated pork or vegetables; Fuzhou also has local branches such as Fuqing guangbing.

Its hallmark is the central hole and plain wheaty flavor—handy for stringing and carrying, and a taste-memory of that anti-pirate history.