“Laoma, can I have one rabbit head?” This unexpected request, made by customer after customer at her spicy hot pot stall in Chengdu, started laid-off worker Shi Guiru on her journey to becoming the founder of the nationally renowned food brand Shuangliu Laoma Rabbit Head—and changing the culinary traditions of her native Sichuan province for good.

According to a 2017 profile of the brand in the Chengdu Daily, Shi lost her job in a factory canteen in 1992, and started selling spicy hot pot, or malatang (麻辣烫), for a slender income. Soon, the 48-year-old became affectionately known as Laoma (老妈, ”Old Mom”) to her customers. Wanting to add variety to the hot pot ingredients, Shi bought rabbit heads at a low price from the local produce market. Though this may be hard to imagine today, with rabbit head being one of Sichuan cuisine’s most famous ingredients, it could be bought at just 2 yuan for 500 grams in the early 1990s—and even then, vendors often discarded the heads at the end of the day due to the lack of buyers.

Shi, however, saw potential. She experimented with different ways of seasoning the rabbit heads, and invited her adult children to sample the results and give feedback. Later on, her daughter allegedly referred to Shi a seasoning expert, who taught her his secret recipe that took her product to a new level. As Shi’s son began snacking on rabbit heads in front of the malatang stall, customers were attracted by the unusual smell and itched to try them, until they became the most popular item on Shi’s menu.

By the mid-to-late 1990s, China’s economic reforms had led to unprecedented levels of prosperity for the middle class. Nightlife boomed in Chengdu’s Shuangliu district, with stalls lining the street and patronized by throngs of customers. Eventually, Shi earned enough capital from selling rabbit heads at her stall to establish Shuangliu Laoma, which was followed by the hundreds of rabbit head brands that exist in Sichuan today.