Indonesian pastries gain popularity in run-up to Spring Festival

A line of eager customers forms outside a small Indonesian snacks store in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region despite the rain. They await the freshly baked "turtle-shaped cake," which symbolizes health and longevity.

Wei Zhaoxia, an Indonesian Chinese descendant, operates the store. Various kinds of Indonesian delicacies are offered in the store including nine-layer cakes, sticky rice dumplings, coconut rolls, and sago cake.

Indonesian pastries have gained popularity among some Chinese consumers in recent years. And orders for the sweet delicacy both online and offline in China began to increase as the Spring Festival draws near.

Wei's shop is experiencing a steady influx of customers, often leaving with bags brimming with assorted treats. A regular patron, Li Junyang, visits the store with friends for her festive season shopping. "As Spring Festival nears, these cakes serve dual purposes -- for personal enjoyment and as gifts," she explained.

Wei attributes her shop's success to adaptability and innovation. "We've adapted our recipes to be more health-conscious, integrating various grains while reducing oil and sugar content," she said.

"I realized the potential in Indonesian specialties 20 years ago," Wei recalled. "The rise of social media has further enhanced our reach, drawing in new customers, including many Indonesian students."

Similar sentiments were shared by Colin Cai, another Indonesian Chinese entrepreneur in the same trade. His eatery located in the Guangxi-ASEAN economic development zone has been quite busy these days, especially before the Spring Festival.

"The month before the Chinese Lunar New Year is our busiest. As the fame of Indonesian cuisine grows, we find ourselves busier than ever, even the entire family is involved in making snacks," Cai said.

Both Wei and Cai emphasize the importance of authenticity in their culinary offerings, procuring products directly from Indonesia. "The internet and improved cross-border trade have made it much easier to get Indonesian products," Cai noted, expressing satisfaction with the growing patronage of his shop.

Luo Shelan, a family member of Vietnamese Chinese in Liuzhou City, Guangxi, said her pastry workshop has received nearly 20,000 yuan (about 2,800 U.S. dollars) of orders in the run-up to the Spring Festival so far.

"Now, I also invite my friends to make cakes, sharing videos online," Luo said, aiming to inspire more people to engage in Indonesian cake-making themselves, since the preservation time of pastry is quite short, and it is easy to be damaged during packaging and transportation.

The reach of Indonesian snacks has extended beyond regions like Fujian, Guangxi, and Hainan, spreading across China through the internet.

On China's online platforms, recipes for Indonesian pastries emerge, and many food lovers around the country would buy ingredients online and try to make the delicacies by themselves.

Gu Jia, a woman in her twenties, shared her recipe for coconut layered pudding on Xiaohongshu, China's lifestyle-focused social media platform.

"I came across this pudding while traveling in Indonesia, and I liked it. So I bought its ingredients like colorful leaves, coconut milk, tapioca online to make the pudding for my family this Spring Festival," Gu said.