If you’ve been living under a rock you might not know who Li Ziqi is. Ziqi is a YouTuber who documents her life in Sichuan.
She grows most of her own food and she makes amazing crafts. Her videos are absolutely mesmerizing. Ziqi holds the Guinness World Record for most subscribers for a Chinese language channel.
While watching her videos, you can’t help but wonder what it would be like to live like her. I especially wonder what the food tastes like. Well you can find out what her food tastes like! At least, sort of.
Li has a line of food, homeware and apparel, but it is only available on Taobao. If you find a shop in English selling her products, it is an unofficial store so be careful! I was able to find two of her products at my local Chinese supermarket and H Mart.
Are they as good as her videos make them look? Here’s what I think:
Red Oil Instant Wide Noodles
The packaging for Li’s Red Oil Instant Wide Noodles immediately caught my eye at the Chinese supermarket. Inside the container is 海带(hǎidài, kelp), 油包 (yóu bāo, chili oil), 粉包 (fěn bāo, flavoring powder), 菜包 (cài bāo, vegetables), 醋包 (cù bāo, vinegar) and noodles.
It’s marketed as “healthy” because the noodles are not fried.
The instructions say to add boiling water to the noodles, cover it with a lid and place the chili oil on the cover to heat up for five minutes. After five minutes, pour out all the water and add all the flavorings.
I hate lumpy noodles so I enjoyed the chewy, bouncy texture. My only complaint is that it doesn’t cook evenly.
Even after following the directions closely, some of the noodles in the center were still stuck together. The noodles were also wrapped separately, which I think it would have been fine without . The cup is already wrapped in plastic.
Most importantly: DO NOT ADD THE ENTIRE PACKET OF CHILI OIL!
I only added half but I was lightly sweating. The oil is fragrant; you can really smell the Sichuan peppers, so you know it’s going to be numbing. The pickled vegetables may look red and scary but they’re not spicy at all. They’re just a tad sour.
Last tip: add the vinegar slowly. I love vinegar so I added the entire packet, which made the noodles too sour, especially with the pickled vegetables.
Overall, I enjoyed the noodles but I won’t be purchasing them again.
Brown Sugar Tea with Ginger and Dates
The product markets it as great for menstrual cramps because of its key ingredients: brown sugar and dates. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the minerals in brown sugar (calcium, potassium and iron) can help relieve menstrual cramps.
Dates are rich in vitamin A, B1, B2, calcium, iron and magnesium. They are used to enrich and replenish blood.
The tea also has ginger, which is packed with antioxidants, can aid in digestion. It can even calm your nerves. I recommend only drinking this tea in the morning. Drinking it at night leaves you really warm when you go to sleep.
The tea comes in fish food-like granules. It’s not too sweet and the ginger taste is not too overpowering. I was surprised it wasn’t that sweet because it has both dates and sugar.
I drank it throughout my period and my cramps were non-existent to bearable. (If you have severe cramps, I’m not sure if this tea would work. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to try this or something similar.)
You can definitely make your own version of this tea. My only suggestion is to use a Chinese brand of brown sugar.
It is also sometimes called 黑糖 (Hēitáng) or 红糖 (Hóngtáng). It comes in bar form and loose form. If you want to read more about the different types of sugar, you can do so here.
MalafoodOverall, I enjoyed trying Li Ziqi’s products. Have you tried any of them? What did you think?
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