Foreign students from southeast Asia develop rice noodles for hometown diners

(ECNS) -- A group of foreign students from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) studying at Liuzhou City Vocational College, together with their Chinese classmates, developed Tom Yum Kung-flavor rice noodles for ASEAN diners.

Luosifen, a kind of rice noodle, is a snack from Liuzhou that tastes spicy, sour and fresh with a special aroma.

This kind of food has been sold overseas through China's e-commerce platforms as packaged rice noodles developed.

Peng Ping, a foreign student from Laos, tasted Luosifen for the first time in 2019.

"It was smelly when I first tasted it. My hair and my clothes were saturated with that smell so I got them washed as soon as I went back to school," said Peng Ping.

What she didn't expect is she would fall in love with that smell someday. Now she eats it three to four times a week.

Luosifen was exported to 20 countries and regions including ASEAN in 2020.

Confident about Luosifen, Peng's school set up a research society to help students start their own Luosifen business.

Then a start-up team with students from Laos, Indonesia and China was founded to develop Luosifen for ASEAN diners.

There are slight differences between the tastes of Chinese and ASEAN diners, which are hard to determine, said Peng.

In order to develop Luosifen to satisfy ASEAN diners, these foreign students have to taste ten kinds of rice noodles at most a day.

"We tasted the Luosifen that our school cooked and chose flavors we like. Sometimes it was too spicy and sometimes not that sour. We have to taste up to ten kinds at most a day. If I like one of them, I'll eat more," said Peng.

He Mingxiang, a student from Indonesia, found that the packaged Luosifen sold in the market needs to be boiled, but that ASEAN diners prefer instant food.

"We like instant food. It is more simple and convenient if the rice noodles don't need to be boiled. We won't spend too much time on it - eight to 10 minutes is enough," said He Mingxiang.

After several months of efforts, they eventually made Luosifen suitable for southeast Asian diners and export to ASEAN countries.

Peng plans to return to Laos to start a business, selling Luosifen customized for southeast Asian diners through live commerce.