hum bao and humbao (1990)

[Benjamin Barrett]

Based on Google Translate, the Dutch Wikipedia page (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bapao) seems to say they are from Chinese culture via Indonesia.

The dish takes on different forms and names in English, such as nikuman, which has come from China via Japan, and manapua, popular in Hawai'i. Lots to explore here!

Humbao here can be either steamed (white) or baked (brown, generally with a honey glaze).

Surely, they must sell these products in the freezer section of US grocery stores--Asian if not general--though frozen just isn't the same.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Aug 17, 2011, at 7:05 PM, victor steinbok wrote:

> I don't know if anyone cares, since this doesn't go the the heart of the
> matter in English, but "bao" is an extremely popular Dutch "snack" (see "di=
> m
> sum"--I'll post on that later). Every Dutch supermarket carries at least tw=
> o
> (beef and pork) and up to six varieties of "bao" in the freezer--they are
> meant to be microwaved briefly before consumption. The problem is, there is
> virtually no food in supermarkets that could be described as "Chinese". The
> Dutch equivalent is Indonesian fast food--what with noodle and rice mixes
> all meant to resemble Indonesian creations. AFAICT "bao" is also considered
> Indonesian (although most Asian restaurants are tagged with
> "Chinese-Indonesian" label). This does not mean it's not Chinese in origin,
> but the distribution is very wide.
>
> Just to be clear--these are the standard, white-dough steamed buns with som=
> e
> meat or vegetarian filling, ranging between 2" and 4" in diameter. Unlike
> the US varieties, they are always packaged as singles (makes it easier to
> microwave two--right in the pack). They are never baked. When I've seen the
> baked varieties in bakeries, they were also occasionally labeled as "bao",
> but this was not the rule (on the other hand, a split roll baked/toasted
> with ham, cheese and pineapple was /always/ labeled "Hawaiian"). If anythin=
> g
> was labeled Han Bao, I haven't seen it.
>
> I hope this helps in some small way.
>
> VS-)
>
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 7:41 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wro=
> te:
>
>>
>> Nice find! I can't read Chinese, but can at least identify characters.
>>
>> On the page for =C0` (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%A4%A1), it says u=
> nder
>> the Mandarin section "filling (for dumplings etc.)" Since =A5] means wrap=
> (
>> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8C%85. but not defined), that makes
>> sense. "=C0`=A5]" gets 938,000 Googits.
>>
>> I wonder if =C4=D0=A5] is word play or nonce usage. I've never understood=
> how
>> Cantonese writing works very well, but I think they have some freedom of
>> character use, something along the lines of jukujikun as you mentioned th=
> e
>> other day. Still, "=C4=D0=A5]" gets 49,900 Googits, pale in comparison, b=
> ut still a
>> large number...
>>
>> BB
>>

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