中国·福州——热爱城市从热爱美食开始

Chewy, smooth fish balls, crisp and tender meat Yan, sweet and waxy taro paste, strong and fragrant Yuanxiao... The sea breeze blew to Shanghai with the Fuzhou scent in May. Then what surprise will they bring us?

To help to bid for the “City of Gastronomy”, Fujian Cuisine Promotion, sponsored by the Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, chose Shanghai as the first stop and was held on May 9. The mouth-watering Fujian cuisine and profound Min Opera performances jointly created a charming promotion event, polishing the cultural name card of Fujian cuisine in Shanghai.

Guests tasted Fuzhou fish balls at the promotion event.

This journey of Fujian cuisine in Shanghai was grand in cast. A group of Fujian cuisine chefs masters, heads of time-honored brands, and intangible heritage inheritors of Fujian cuisine entered Shanghai to promote more than 10 classic Fujian dishes, including Fotiaoqiang, Braised Sea Clam with Chicken Soup, and Litchi Pork with Stuffing.

Fujian cuisine, known for mountain and sea delicacies, has blended various cultures in China, and gone through the integration of the ancient Hookien culture and Central Plains culture. Thus, it is reputed as one of the Eight Regional Cuisines in China. Fujian cuisine is famous, and is especially reputed that “Fuzhou cuisine has attracted people beyond time and space.”

Between the late Qing Dynasty and the early period of the Republic of China, there were many Fujian cuisine restaurants on prosperous streets in Shanghai. At that time, Fujian cuisine was praised as a high-class cuisine, together with Beijing cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Sichuan cuisine. “Many Fuzhou people run Fujian cuisine restaurants outside Fuzhou. There are nearly 60 Fujian cuisine restaurants opened by Fuzhou people in Shanghai alone.” Huang Lvbing, President of the Fuzhou Catering and Cuisine Industry Association, told the reporter that they had chosen Shanghai as the first station because they hoped the scent of Fuzhou food would last in Shanghai, the economic hub.

In order that Fujian cuisine culture would take root in Shanghai, the awarding ceremony “Fujian Cuisine (Fuzhou) Experience Restaurant” was carried out on the scene for 22 Fujian cuisine restaurants operated in Shanghai. Thus a new platform for Fujian cuisine exchanges and promotion was established between the two cities, contributing to the inheritance and development of Fujian cuisine culture.

Among all the cuisines nationwide, Fuzhou took the lead in promulgating and implementing the Regulations on the Protection of Fujian Cuisine Techniques and Culture and also issued the Three-year Action Plan of Fuzhou City on the Protection and Development of Fujian Cuisine. Meanwhile, it has built China’s first Fujian cuisine cultural service center, integrating multiple functions such as exhibition, research, experience and consumption... In recent years, Fuzhou has attached great importance to the protection and inheritance of Fujian cuisines and is building itself into the new landmark of food culture.

“Last year, we officially started bidding for the “City of Gastronomy”. With the purpose of building an international consumption city, Fuzhou took the special action of “Three Batches”: developing a batch of famous catering brands, enhancing a batch of municipal demonstration blocks of culinary experience, and creating a batch of ‘Fujian cuisine restaurants’, ‘intangible heritage techniques’, and ‘time-honored brands’.” According to a relevant official in the Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Fuzhou’s catering industry recovered rapidly this year. The sales revenue added up to RMB 10.674 billion in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. This effectively boosted consumer confidence and drove the growth of catering consumption.

“I hope that Fujian cuisine promotion activities with the theme of ‘Fuzhou, the City of Gastronomy’ will strengthen the protection and publicity of Fujian cuisine culture, show the charms of Fuzhou as a city of gastronomy, and drive the prosperity of Fujian cuisine industry.” A relevant official in the Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce said that the Fujian Cuisine Promotion will show up in Chengdu and Yangzhou…… even overseas. This will polish the unique name card of Fujian cuisine culture and accelerate Fuzhou’s triumph in bidding for the “City of Gastronomy”.