Gai Meih Baau

Part of the fun of life in Hong Kong is that one can learn something new every day.

Take food names, for example. I've come nowhere close to knowing what everything is called because there's so much I haven't eaten (or been interested in eating), and while I've tried and have come to appreciate numerous local foods, I know they represent but a fraction of what's out there.

Coconut bun One common product found in neighbourhood bakeries is an oblong bun filled with a creamy coconut paste. I've had the odd one here and there over the years, but it's not my favourite as it's gooey, sweet, and as fattening as could be; therefore I never bothered to learn its name.

It wasn't until later that I had occasion not only to hear the name, but commit it to memory on the spot.

I was tutoring one of my students when the word croissant came up. While explaining its meaning and pointing out my amusement with the Cantonese translation, she in turn gave me the name of the long-ignored confection: gai meih baau (雞尾飽).

I knew that gai meant chicken, and that baau meant bun, but I didn't know the meaning of meih, so I asked. She then translated the whole name as chicken-ass bun.

You can see why the name stuck.

I knew that her interpretation couldn't be literal so I looked it up. The primary definitions of meih (尾) are tail, rear, or the stern of a ship: all having to do with the back end of things. But these buns are also known as "cocktail buns", which means gai meih is a direct (though misguided) translation of cocktail.

And while ass may be a loose translation, it's pretty much on the money, even if it has nothing to do with coconut. It only makes sense when you take the bun's shape into account, which does rather look like the bottom end of a hen.

But it's still not the most appetising thought.

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