Lok

Childhood Food

There is a childhood food memory that I am really fond of—the iced gem biscuits. The iced gem biscuits (花占餅) are nibble-size, circular crackers with artificial-colored sugar on top.

It was a common kids-snack that has been around forever. When I was in kindergarten, the teacher would give us iced gem biscuits at the snacking time. They are crunchy, unnaturally colorful, and so sugary that you can taste the chemical saccharine. Pop one in your mouth and it melts in seconds. Every aspect of this snack is saturated, over-the-top, and kitsch. I loved it.

Many years later, my mother told me that those biscuits were originally medicines. The iced gem biscuits were known as “flower pagoda cakes” (花塔餅), a kind of laxative/ anti-parasite drug in the disguise of a candy. It was a different time, the time when going to the doctor was a luxury. Parents would have these medicines in their cupboard, giving their sick children whatever treatment was available. Of course, the ones that I ate were drug-free.

I remember the iced gem biscuits that I ate were from Garden(嘉頓)—A classic Hong Kong biscuit factory. I searched for the biscuit on their website. They don’t sell that anymore. Probably it was too chemical for today’s customer. It’s funny how life-saving items in the last century are considered unhealthy now. I learned on Garden’s website that their company was founded as a war supply producer. They used to make biscuits and bread for soldiers. Now they do the same thing for children and old people. Knowing that their business was built upon war, I’m not sure if it was pride or guilt that I was eating. That feeling is very specifically Hong Kong. Forget about the East-Meet-West sugar coat, our city was built upon trauma. The Hong Kong people are great artisans in rationalizing trauma. We do not overcome traumas, we live with them, beautifully. I wish I can be like an iced gem biscuit.