Xi'an's food, generally speaking, is served in large portions, is inexpensive and each dish has its own story.On a downtown street, everywhere one can see signs, including "Old Sun Family's Paomo (steamed bun soaking in mutton soup), "Old Ma Family's Mutton" and "Old Liu Family's Hulutou (a local snack)". At the food street, food stands one after another stretch several hundreds meters. At night, temporary food stands fully line both sides of the street. Everywhere, there is a smell of delicous snacks.On the street, small restaurants and temporary food stands serve very cheap snacks. A bowl of hulutou costs only three yuan. Many temporary stands sell Chengdu's hot specialty, 20 cents per cube. With so many rich snacks, a lot of local people do not prepare meals at home and are willing to eat at food stands.

Zeng Gao is a traditional snack for breakfast in central Shaanxi. It is made from glutinous rice and Chinese dates in a steamer which is developd from an ancient cooking vessel Zeng, hence the name Zeng Gao. Chinese dates have a lot of medicinal functions such as enriching the blood and calming the nerves and Zeng Gao has a strong flavor of Chinese dates and is soft, sticky and tasty. Raw material: sticky rice, red Chinese date

History:
The snack of zeng gao has a long history. It was said that Zeng gao was originated from Shanxi province and then famous in Lingbao. Zeng is a cooker; it was used during the primitive society. Till Neolithic period, Zeng made of pottery, and till Zhou and Shang dynasty, it made of bronse, and then became iron Zeng. From then, iron Zeng came into use from generation to generation. The main raw material of Zenggao is sticky rice. How to make Zeng gao:

Put Zeng in a caldron, with water on the bottom. And then put sticky rice and red Chinese dates into the Zeng. Put Chinese dates firtly, and then sticky rice. Put them layer by layer, altogether, it needs 7 layers. After that, close the cover. Cook it with big fire for about 6 hours and then you can enjoy it.