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TIL: There's No Carrot in Carrot Cake | 蘿蔔糕

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    Teddy Xinyuan Chen
    Twitter

The carrot cakes are my favorite food from RT-Mart deli section in Chiang-chiu. I've been in love with it since I took the first bite when I was little.

BUT There's No Carrot in Carrot Cake! How?

I was mindblown when I learned this in 2024. And I feel kinda sad. All these years and what I believed wasn't true.

But 白蘿蔔 is still 蘿蔔, so the Chinese name is still accurate.

Wikipedia

To make things worse, they could contain shrimps. How could I expect a dish to be seafood-free when it's Hokkien?

Dried shimp is used in 90% of the foods in Hokkien, including 豆花. I always asked if a food contains it before taking the bite.

Additional ingredients that provide umami flavouring can be also added. They include diced or minced pieces of:

Dried shrimp Dried shiitake Chinese sausage Jinhua ham

According to Wikipedia, the dish actually uses turnip or daikon (白蘿蔔).

Book

And someone in Singapore wrote a book with the title There's No Carrot in Carrot Cake - 101 Hawker Dishes Singaporans Love.

Hah. I imagine people shocked and kids crying after they learned the truth.

The book lists many foods I'm familiar with and love, like this one (肉粽 | Bak-Chang)

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