Buns, buns, towers of buns! Every year, a small island in Hong Kong celebrates a bun festival, where tens of thousands of these delicious snacks are stacked into towers several stories high.

They’re all made by hand at Kwok Kam Kee, a small, family-run shop that’s been doing it for over 40 years.

The festivities started as a plea to the gods after a plague swept through the island. The residents made offerings to them to fend off evil spirits, hence the towers of buns reaching the heavens.

Today, the main festival event is a race where athletes climb up a tower of fake, plastic buns and collect as many as they can while reaching the top.

But for Kwok Kam Kee, the race against the clock began a week before the festival, when bakers pitch in to make 60,000 buns before the big day. We got a behind-the-scenes look at how they do it.

If you liked this story, we have more videos about classic Hong Kong snacks, including:

Rare Handmade Fish Balls in Hong Kong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OApsyujgOeM&t=3s

Hong Kong’s Classic Egg Waffle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_FkYLdsHMs&t=28s


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Producer: Venus Wu
Videographers: Hanley Chu and Venus Wu
Editor: Hanley Chu
Mastering: Joel Roche

Music: Audio Network