Baozi

Written records from the Song dynasty show the term baozi in use for filled buns.[2][3] Prior to the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1279), the word mantou was used for both filled and unfilled buns.[4] According to legend, the filled baozi is a variation of were invented by military strategist Zhuge Liang.[5] Over time mantou came to indicate only unfilled buns in Mandarin and some varieties of Chinese, although the Wu Chinese languages continue to use mantou to refer to both filled and unfilled buns.

In many Chinese cultures, these buns are a popular food, and widely available.[1] While they can be eaten at any meal, baozi are often eaten for breakfast. They are also popular as a portable snack or meal.

The dish has also become common place throughout various regions of north Asia with cultural and ethnic relationships, as well as Southeast Asia due to long standing Chinese immigration.

• In Buryatia and Mongolia, the variants of the recipe, often with beef or lamb, are known as buuz and buuza.[6][7]
• Due to the long history. Chinese overseas diaspora in Malaysia, the Malays have adopted these buns as their own bun. A particularly Malay form of the baozi (called pau in Malay) is filled with potato curry, chicken curry or beef curry that are similar to the fillings of Malay curry puffs. Some variants have a quail egg in the middle, in addition to the curry. Due to the Muslim beliefs of most Malays, these buns are halal and contain no pork. One can find Malay stalls selling the buns by the roadside, at pasar malams (night markets), highway rest stops, and pasar Ramadans (Ramadan food bazaars).
• Similarly, in Indonesia the dish has been adopted into Indonesian cuisine through the integration of Chinese culture. It has been adopted through the Hokkien name of bakpau. In addition to meat fillings, local variants include: chocolate, sweet potato, and marmalade filling.
• As a colonial influence from Indonesia, at supermarkets in the Netherlands one can easily find frozen bapao or bakpao wrapped in plastic, ready-made to be heated inside a microwave. The most prevalent filling is chicken, although there are pork and beef variants available as well. This food is culturally categorized as a quick snack or a fast-food item. Fresh forms of this steamed bun are not seen outside of the Chinese community within the country.
• In the Philippines, their version of baozi is called siopao brought by Chinese immigrants (Sangleys) prior to Spanish colonialism. A Filipino siopao filling contains meatballs, Philippine adobo, flaked tuna and pork, and sometimes chocolate and cheese.
• A similar concept is also present in Thailand, called salapao.
• Baozi is also very popular in Japan where it's known as nikuman and is typically sold in convenience stores.
• Baozi is called num bao in Cambodian. It is a popular snack in Cambodia and is usually homemade or sold in street markets.
• Bánh bao is the Vietnamese version of the Cantonese tai bao that was brought over by Chinese immigrants.
• The Myanmar version is called "pauk-si" (ပေါက်စီ)[8][9] and is a popular snack available in almost every traditional tea shops.

• List of buns