Factory-Floor Classic · Salt Soda
Yanqishui (盐汽水) Salt Soda
Photo: Lhzss8 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
It was invented in the 1950s as a literal labor-protection product, handed out to sweating steel workers to replace lost salt, not sold as a treat.
Yanqishui is a lightly salty, lightly sweet carbonated drink that tastes stranger than it sounds, sold ice-cold from corner shops and street carts across Shanghai in summer. It was born as an electrolyte drink for factory and construction workers before spreading into everyday street culture.
Why it's made this way: Its odd salty-sweet profile and working-class origins have kept it a nostalgic, distinctly Shanghainese drink even as global soda brands took over elsewhere.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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