Something to chew on

According to Wang Hailong, the main producer of the documentary, the episodes are about meat, vegetables, chewy chuan'er, bones and stories of chuan'er chefs.

"It took a lot discussion for us to decide the topics of each episode, as chuan'er in each place in China has its own characteristics, and we wanted each episode to be rich with different flavors," says Wang.

"The documentary is also about the way to order when you have a meal at night with your friends.

"Chuan'er is a food in our daily life, and many probably think that there should already be documentaries about it, but there are none. Maybe this is because it's only a small snack, or it's just too common."

For Wang, chuan'er is related to time－it's vanishing as urbanization swallows the chuan'er culture.

Of the 500 chuan'er restaurants Chen's team visited, nearly half of them are closed or moving to other locations.

"It (the documentary) offers happy memories for those born in the 1980s and '90s, and even the 2000s in China, no matter where you are from," says Wang.

"But we may not have the chance to enjoy it (this food) in the future."

When Chen and his team did their research, they eliminated all the fancy outlets.

Chen started to explore chuan'er in January of 2017 with his wife and 6-year-old son.

"Our first stop was Huludao, Liaoning province, where we met a chuan'er bar owner who told us about the secrets of barbeque," says Chen.