Luosifen, traditional rice noodles cooked with river snails, has become popular from being a street food sold at night markets in Liuzhou, Guangxi Region, to an export commodity entering the global market.
On Friday, this Chinese dish has reached as far as the United States. According to a Xinhua report, a company said that it exported 50,000 packs of Luosifen to the U.S.
The manager of Liuzhou Luozhuangyan Food Company Ltd., Jia Defa, said that the snail noodle shipment amounted to 600,000 yuan or $87,000.
Luosifen is a dish of rice noodles boiled with pickled bamboo shoots, dried turnip, peanuts and fresh vegetables in spiced river snail soup. Before it became an export product, Luosifen crossed the borders of Guangxi region and penetrated the whole of China.
The popularity of the snail noodles can further be traced from a government project in 2010 which encouraged the opening of more restaurants serving the dish in big cities outside Guangxi.
It was also featured in 2012 in the documentary show "A Bite of China."
There had been issues with the exportation of the dish due to standard compliance, but through quality control and upgraded technology, companies in Liuzhou are already meeting international standards, Xinhua reported.
Many Luosifen companies have applied for export certificates. There are more than 60 manufacturers of instant snail rice noodles playing in the market today--a big leap from just one manufacturer in late 2014.