In Nanning, there are plenty of restaurants selling river snail rice noodles, even more than the number of Laoyou rice noodles. But, some regular consumers of Liuzhou river snail rice noodles think that Nanning's river snail rice noodles are not authentic, taking into account that not all the ingredients here are purchased from Liuzhou.
As to whether other ingredients are needed, Zhang Taihua, executive vice president of Liuzhou Association of River Snail Rice Noodles and intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Liuzhou river snail rice noodles in Guangxi, says that traditional river snail rice noodles are not added with river snail meat, because the river snail meat would be way much tender after being braised in the soup for 24 hours, leaving all the essence in the soup, so it makes no sense to eat the meat rather than enjoy the fresh soup. Some restaurants serve their customers with purple perilla, cordate houttuynia and other ingredients, which is not an authentic way. For those who serve the river snail rice noodle soup after braising for only 2 or 3 hours, these ingredients might make it palatable, while for those who braise the soup for 24 hours, these ingredients will mask the taste of the fresh soup.