Handmade Chinese Wheat Gluten

Chinese wheat gluten is a common ingredient used by vegetarians. It is made by making dough with flour, then adding water while kneading (washing out the starch), and then letting it ripen. Nowadays we have bread mixers to do the work of making and kneading dough, and other machines for washing the starch out. However, in earlier times this was all done by manpower. This picture shows how the dough was mixed with one’s feet in 1956. Based on today’s standards, many aspects of this factory are not in compliance with the health code. Yet, at the time this was just the way things were done.