STAR COOK: Huang Guosheng (third from left), 58, shakes hands with Jia Guohui, Vice President of the Beijing Xibei Catering Management Co. Ltd., after a ceremony in Beijing on June 20. Famous for hand-made corn buns typical to northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Huang and his wife were hired by the company to promote the local snack nationwide (JIANG XIAOYING)

Before May 2012, Huang Guosheng and his wife Wu Guizhen had never been to anywhere else outside northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The farthest place that they had ever been was Xi'an, the provincial capital some 493 km away from their hometown Kangjiagou Village in Suide County.

The couple, in their late 50s, lives in a traditional cave home which was made of mud and bricks, and makes a living on farming from spring to fall as well as making common hand-made millet buns (huangmomo, or the yellow buns, in Chinese) during winter time.

They turned a new page in their otherwise modest and routine lifestyle on June 20 when they were hired by the Beijing Xibei Catering Management Co. Ltd., a chain restaurant featuring northwestern style food, to promote the buns nationwide.

The eight minutes

The couple and their hand-made buns came into the spotlight because of a seven-episode documentary titled A Bite of China.

Aired on May 14 in CCTV, China's biggest national TV station, the documentary focused on the history, culture and variety of Chinese food. The millet bun, typical in the northwest, was featured in the second episode, The Story of Staple Foods.

The documentary crew found the couple in the end of 2011 through local people, as word of mouth had it that their hand-made buns were the best in Suide County. It took the crew five days to shoot.

The process of making the bun, according to Wu, was so easy that one could learn it within three days. On day one, blend the hard and soft raw millets with a ratio of 7:3, and then soak it in water overnight. On day two, process the blended millet with a stone mill. Sift the powder and cook it. Make the bun dough and let it rise in a jar for another night. On day three, make little buns with a blend of steamed jujube dates and red beans as fillings, and then steam.

Starting from the eleventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar (around December), Huang would make about 700 buns every three days at home with his wife and then sell them by tricycle in the county's downtown, some 10 km away. Each bun was sold at 1 yuan ($0.16). The two-month-long bun-making season could bring the couple about 8,000 yuan ($1,260) -- far more profitable than farming!

The eight-minute shots aired on May 15, impressing an audience of millions. Around 15,900 related article links appear for Baidu.com search queries of "Suide County, Huang Guosheng, huangmomo". Moreover, several companies outside the province contacted the couple to show interest in cooperation.

"People said they saw me on TV. I had no idea I'd get famous," Huang told Beijing Review.

Coincidently, Jia Guolong, chairman of Xibei, watched the episode.

"All the foods in the documentary looked mouthwatering. I really want to go to that place and dig in. I think it will be better if I could eat them in Beijing," Jia recalled.