Qufu Jianbing (Shandong Crepe)

Qufu jianbing belongs to the Shandong crepe family, made from a batter of coarse grains—corn, millet or sorghum flour—spread paper-thin on a hot griddle into round sheets that keep dry and long, rolled or eaten as needed, a staple handed down across generations in southwest Shandong.

Shandong jianbing has a long history, said to reach back to the old folk diet around Mount Tai; in Qufu, set in southwest Shandong, the crepe naturally became the bedrock of everyday eating. Built on coarse grains and easy to carry and keep, it once served as field and travel rations, reflecting the plain food wisdom of the region.

It is eaten in many ways: nibbled dry, rolled around scallion with a dip of sauce, wrapped with stir-fry or braised meat, or broken into porridge and soup to soften; street vendors griddle it fresh and roll it with youtiao, crisp pastry, greens and sauces, among the most common fast food of Qufu.

Its cicada-wing, tough-but-unbroken coarse-grain skin and the all-embracing "anything can be rolled" way of eating are the most characteristically Shandong marks of Qufu jianbing.