Spring Bamboo (Matcha Ice Cream possible)

AI Gourmet Analysis

Origin and Cultural Background

“Spring Bamboo (春风抹竹)” is one of the dishes that symbolizes the diversification of modern sweets in China. It has particularly attracted attention for being offered at “Super Wenheyou” (超级文和友), a complex facility that combines dining and retro culture, which serves as the epicenter of subculture in Shenzhen. This facility intentionally recreates the atmosphere of Chinese cities from the 1980s, and is famous for its nostalgic architecture and design, as well as for offering a wide range of food experiences from traditional street food to novel creative sweets.
Spring Bamboo seems, from its name, to evoke the image of “spring wind and young bamboo,” but in reality, it is a rich green gelato-style ice cream. While this green color is often compared to “matcha ice cream,” long popular in both Japan and China, the inclusion of “bamboo” in the product name suggests the possibility that bamboo components or aromas are incorporated.

Flavor Characteristics of Bamboo and Matcha

In Chinese cuisine, bamboo (shoots) has long been used, known for its refreshing scent and unique greenish flavor. Matcha, on the other hand, is a powdered form of green tea enjoyed not only in Japan but also in China. When used in ice cream, it is characterized by a rich bitterness and sweetness as well as a creamy mouthfeel. In Spring Bamboo ice cream, it is believed that the natural fresh aroma of bamboo and the rich flavor reminiscent of matcha are fused together.
To recreate the flavor of bamboo, methods often involve using extracts from bamboo leaves or young bamboo, or employing food flavorings. In recent years in the Chinese sweets industry, particularly in Taiwan and Guangdong, there has been a trend of incorporating the natural aroma and refreshing sense of bamboo into foods, and Spring Bamboo is part of this movement.

Shenzhen's Super Wenheyou and the Retro Experience

“Super Wenheyou” in Shenzhen is a large-scale food park themed around the city’s rapid modernization and the nostalgia for “old China” that runs counter to this trend. Visitors can enjoy food in spaces modeled after the lifestyles and bustling markets of the 1980s, and among the wide array of regional and street foods, innovative desserts such as Spring Bamboo ice cream symbolize the fusion of local tradition with contemporary aesthetics.
Visitors are enveloped by the traditional scents and sounds of the street markets, and at the same time can enjoy these contemporary sweets, resulting in unique surprises and discoveries as part of their gourmet experience.

Variations and International Expansion of Spring Bamboo

Desserts made with bamboo can be found not only in mainland China but also in other Asian countries such as Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam. The forms they take are diverse, including puddings, yokan, beverages, jellies, and even cakes and ice creams. What makes Spring Bamboo unique is that while clearly influenced by matcha ice cream, it successfully merges this with the distinctive flavors of bamboo.
Both inside and outside China, sweets utilizing natural ingredients and regionally inspired flavors have been gaining popularity year by year, and bamboo-based ice cream is particularly appreciated by consumers seeking health-conscious and novel options.

Conclusion and Contemporary Significance

Spring Bamboo (春风抹竹) is a sweet that epitomizes the food culture of Shenzhen, a major Chinese city where tradition and innovation intersect. The skill and sensibility used to transform natural ingredients like bamboo and matcha into a contemporary ice cream demonstrate how China’s food industry is adapting to international trends and health consciousness. Furthermore, it plays an important role in introducing new interpretations of traditional ingredients to the world, and is expected to further develop as one of the next generation of sweets.