"Silky" Road

John Cena is a man of many talents. An accomplished wrestler, actor, and linguist! Cena shared a video on Chinese social media last year, declaring his affinity for Lao Gan Ma Chilli sauce. The social media post wasn’t a paid advertisement. It appears that John Cena loves Chinese hot sauce and he wants the world to know it.

Guizhou Sauce

The sauce has an interesting story. Lao Gan Ma 老干妈, means Old God Mother and behind the sauce is one of China’s most successful entrepreneurs.

Tao Huabi is from Guizhou province in China. In the late 80s, she set up a small noodle shop that became popular, due to the amazing taste of her sauce. The popularity of the sauce increased and Tao opened a sauce shop and eventually opening a sauce shop in 1997 when her sauce was officially branded.

There were ups and downs with the company and even imitators. After going to court, Tao was successful and years later, her company would average half a billion American dollars per year.

John Cena Loves Chinese Hot Sauce

So why did Cena take to Weibo to talk about hot sauce? Was he looking for a Chinese girlfriend? Actually, the wrestler picked up Mandarin when the WWE was breaking into China. After learning some phrases Cena became interested in the language.

During an interview, he admitted that he has a Mandarin tutor and that he uses Chinese flashcards to remember characters.

While shooting a film in China, Cena shared his love for the hot sauce. Although he admits that he is not an expert with the language, it is still pretty impressive to see him using the language and showing appreciation for Chinese culture.

His message in Mandarin translates to:  “Hello Weibo! I’m currently shooting a movie and I’m on a break and having a meal. I cannot use my mobile phone during filming so I’m now filming this (video) because they gave me Lao Gan Ma. I am not familiar with Lao Gan Ma, but the Chinese say this is an excellent chili sauce. So now I use Lao Gan Ma every day on my broccoli. I use a lot of Lao Gan Ma. This is not an advertisement. I am not related to Lao Gan Ma in any way.”

He really enjoys the hot sauce on his food. It also appears that he is not trying to impress any Chinese women. His new girlfriend isn’t Chinese and he really likes her.

We Like It Too

Silky Kitchen is fond of Lao Gan Ma as well. Our entire menu was designed by a Hunan chef, ensuring that there is a strong foundation of great taste. However, two of our dishes, Spicy Stir-Fried Squid and Stir-Fried Chicken rely on the sauce to enhance its flavor.