Fried cutlassfish, also called belt fish or ribbon fish, is the dish that suddenly went trending on Chinese social media site Weibo on Monday. The topic came up after residents in various locked-down neighborhoods in Shanghai received ribbon fish as part of grocery boxes delivered to them by local authorities.
Amid a city-wide lockdown, Shanghai reported a record 13,000 new cases on Tuesday. At least 38,000 health workers have been deployed to Shanghai from other regions in China to help in the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak. As reported by Chinese state media outlet Xinhua, they will work in temporary hospitals or will help with the citywide nucleic acid testing campaign.
As millions of people are locked down inside their homes, many compounds are dealing with food shortages. In some communities, neighbors are sharing what they have, others have set up WeChat group chats to order groceries online through group buy. There are also neighborhoods where people have received essential food boxes, containing vegetables, milk, and some other goods – some jokingly call it a “mystery box.”
Unboxing videos in times of lockdown. These residents from Shanghai (Puxi) received their veggie box, also including chicken. pic.twitter.com/nDKQYzVD8b
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) April 4, 2022
Residents in Shanghai’s Changning District received an essential food box containing belt fish this week. Cutlassfish or belt fish is known as a good source for containing omega-3 fatty acids, and it can be eaten in various ways, pan fried or baked, steamed, or even raw (in Japan, it is also eaten as sashimi). It is a long, slender fish, of which there are about 45 species.
When Taiwanese actor Eddie Peng (彭于晏) posted a photo on social media of his belt fish groceries and another photo of him posing with health workers in Shanghai’s Changning District also circulated on social media, many netizens connected the dots that Peng is currently also in self-isolation in Changning District. The topic immediately jumped to the hot search lists under the peculiar hashtag “#EddiePengFriedBeltFish.”
People started joking that everybody, including Eddie Peng, was frying belt fish. Shanghai residents then started sharing how they were cooking and serving their belt fish dishes. “Eddie Peng is in Changning, I am in Changning. Eddie Peng is having belt fish, I am having belt fish,” one Shanghai resident wrote.
“I don’t like Eddie Peng, but you can’t dislike fried belt fish,” another Weibo user wrote.
Getting hungry? Here’s a simple pan-friend belt fish recipe for you.
For more articles on the Covid-19 topics on Chinese social media, check here.
By Manya Koetse
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Featured image via Weibo user @请喝酒的漂亮姐姐
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