Wotou

Wotou or wowotou, also called Chinese cornbread, is a type of steamed bread made from cornmeal in Northern China. "Wotou" literally translates to "nest thing", since the wotou resembles a bird's nest with its hollow cone shape. Wōtóu is in the shape of a hollow cone. It was a cheap food for poor people, but a legend grew on how it became a dish served in the Imperial Kitchens. The legend says that during Empress Dowager Cixi's flight to Xi'an from the Battle of Peking when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China in the Boxer Rebellion, Cixi received a bunch of corn buns to satiate her hunger. After her return to Beijing, she ordered the Imperial cooks to make it again for her, and the chef used more refined ingredients to create the golden colored wotou bun, which became one of the Imperial dishes. The full name of the bun was 宮廷小窩頭 (gōngtíng xiǎo wōtóu - the "Royal Wotou"). It has been transformed into a popular food from its previous poor status.

Source: Wikipedia