Here and back again

‘Where can I find the Shanghai-style onion pancake made just like it was before?’ That has been a question I asked my relatives every time I visited Shanghai, my place of birth. As a teenager in Shanghai, I used to get my breakfast from a shop in my neighbourhood every Sunday morning, standing in line for freshly made onion pancakes. The ‘pancake master’ would first take a small lump of dough, fold in some green onion, then roll it into a circle, before putting it into a fryer. A few seconds later, the dough would surface as a golden pancake, hot, crispy and fragrant. It was a treat and a break from the congees I ate throughout the week.

My routine stopped when I immigrated to Canada in the mid-1980s. Over the decade, I made countless pancakes breakfasts on weekends, but never the Shanghai-style onion pancakes. Like croissants and Danishes, they were not meant to be made at home. Getting them was an experience, a ritual. I tried using the frozen ones several time, but it was not the same.

My chance finally came when I went home ten years later, having finished my studies. Shanghai was in the midst of profound transformations. My high school was razed to make way for a highway. The breakfast shop was now a trendy café. Most remaining breakfast shops were franchised entities from Taiwan or Hong Kong. Yes, they served onion pancakes, but they were bigger and just not the same. They tasted pre-packaged, reheated in the oven. My friends told me that some vendors still sold traditional Shanghai-style snacks but I would have to look for them. I searched around the city on each subsequent visit. I uncovered new cuisine, new snacks, but the onion pancake remained elusive. It was easier to find a Starbucks or KFC than a traditional Shanghai breakfast stall. Eventually, I adapted to the new Shanghai lifestyle, having coffee and croissant in the morning until my visit last year. I was walking along a side street lined with different food stands. My nose guided me to one stand with a sign: Onion Pancake, 1.50 Yuan each. I quickly gulfed down my croissant and reached for the golden circle on the vendor’s tray. It tasted just like what I remembered three decades ago. At last, my search was over. ‘I just ate a Shanghai-style onion pancakes’, I texted my cousin. ‘You are adventurous’, came the reply. I clicked on the link he sent me: ‘Several food stall operators in Shanghai found to use gutter oil in their cooking.’