the.com/wonton
a tiny edible parcel where Chinese soup wraps itself in a hug.
means A small Chinese dumpling of seasoned filling wrapped in a thin sheet of dough, typically boiled and served in soup or fried.
from From Cantonese 'wan tan' (雲吞), literally 'swallowing clouds' — a poetic nod to how the soft, floating parcels bob in their broth like little clouds in a sky you can eat. The same characters are read 'húntún' in Mandarin, where the word also echoes 'hùndùn' (混沌), the primordial chaos or formless dumpling-mush of early Chinese creation myth. English borrowed it via the Cantonese pronunciation, carried along trade and immigration routes.
- name meaning
- Cantonese for swallowing a cloud
- ancient roots
- Eaten in China over 1,800 years ago
- shape variety
- Folded into ingots, nurses' caps, or fish tails
- winter solstice
- Northern China eats them to mark Dongzhi
- dumpling cousin
- Thinner wrapper than jiaozi, made to float
canton wonton noodle soup — cantonese dish from guangzhou, china, featuring thin egg noodles in shrimp and pork dumpling broth, dating back 300+ years
wonton festival hong kong — annual celebration in hong kong featuring wonton-making competitions and eating contests since the 1990s