Shoe-sole-shaped sesame cakes

Shoe-sole-shaped sesame cakes

　　Shoe-sole-shaped sesame cakes are a specialty of Zaoqiang County, Hengshui City, Hebei Province. The history of Zaoqiang’s shoe-sole-shaped sesame cakes can be traced back to a man named Song Shanzhuang (1895–1969) from the county town. In the early years of the Republic of China, he set up a stove at the entrance of Songjia Hutong on the east side of the southern end of the old cross street in the county town to bake these cakes. At that time, the cakes he made came in three types: one was a round flatbread made with unleavened dough, sprinkled with sesame seeds on the outside, which puffed up when heated and resembled a fried cake; another was a round leavened flatbread without sesame; and the last was the shoe-sole-shaped sesame cake.

　　At that time, shoe-sole-shaped sesame cakes were not yet well known and didn’t sell particularly quickly. It wasn’t until Song Shanzhuang’s apprentice, Jiang Cunbo (nickname: Simazi), that the cakes began to gain some fame. Jiang Cunbo, originally from Jiangzhuang west of Zaoqiang town, learned the craft of making cakes from his distant uncle, Song Shanzhuang, in his early years. In the mid-1940s, he also opened a cake workshop at the old cross street in the county town. Three years later, he went to Jixian County to run a cake business. After the reform and opening-up period, he left the Zaoqiang County canteen to start his own business and returned to the old cross street to resume his trade. As people’s living standards improved, these shoe-sole-shaped sesame cakes, which are perfect for sandwiching meat, began to gain popularity, and his business flourished.