中国·福州——热爱城市从热爱美食开始

Bringing authentic rural flavors into the city, this banquet offers a taste of Fuzhou’s cuisine in one sitting. On June 28, the “Huawei Fuzhou Banquet”, featuring signature dishes from various districts and counties (cities) across Fuzhou, will be held at the Huawei Xiyingli Agricultural Products Wholesale Market.

With natural ingredients and deep-rooted flavors, the rural banquet embodies a vibrant local culture and the wisdom of everyday life. It stands as one of the most genuine and vivid carriers of culinary heritage, especially in a place like Fuzhou, where a strong sense of locality prevails. So, what exactly do the rural banquets of Fuzhou’s all districts and counties (cities) include? Which area serves the best? If Fuzhou’s rural banquets had a regional league like the Jiangsu Football City League, which region would claim first place, and which would be “the 14th place playing for the friendship”?

Minhou

As the “first county of Fujian”, Minhou is the birthplace of Fujian cuisine. The distinct styles of Fujian cuisine, soup-making, use of red yeast rice, and mastery of sweet-and-sour flavoring can all be traced back here.

▲Minhou Green & Red Wine

The most unearthed pottery item at the Tanshishan Site in Minhou is the “fu”, a vessel used for making soup, marking the beginning of the Fujianese love for broths. Minhou’s Green & Red Wine brewing technique is selected as a municipal intangible cultural heritage. The leftover lees from brewing, Green & Red Wine dregs, are premium condiments sought after by Fujian cuisine restaurants. The county’s central area is even named after sugarcane, reflecting its prominent role in producing 80% of the “sweet” character of local dishes.

▲Lychee Sweet and Sour Pork, Sour and Spicy Soup, Stir-fried Eight Treasures

Minhou’s rich folk traditions give its rural banquets a deeply authentic Fujianese essence. Classics like lychee sweet and sour pork, sour and spicy soup, and fried red yeast eel are signature dishes in rural banquets. Refined culinary techniques are another hallmark: stir-fried eight treasures, blending seasonal ingredients in one dish, and the technically demanding stir-fried meat cakes are a testament to Minhou chefs’ remarkable skills.

Fuqing

Embracing both mountain bounty and maritime abundance, Fuqing’s rural banquets feature rich ingredients and diverse dishes, combining rustic and refined cooking methods. Despite this variety, it is perhaps the sweet and creamy sweet potato that best defines Fuqing’s culinary identity.

▲Fuqing Slippery Soup, Braised Clear Noodles with Seafood, Sweet Potato Dumplings

Sweet potatoes have long been cultivated in Fuqing. They are unremarkable coarse grains but a staple throughout the entire banquet. From all sorts of slippery soups featuring razor clams or minced meat, to braised clear noodles cooked in fresh seafood broth, and finally the golden sweet potato dumplings, whether steamed, boiled, stir-fried, or deep-fried, Fuqing’s delicacies from land and sea are tied together through the versatility of this sweet potato.

▲Stir-fried Baby White Octopus, Braised Mountain Goat

In addition to sweet potato dishes, stir-fried baby white octopus and braised mountain goat are also beloved banquet side dishes. Baby white octopus must be pounded and kneaded multiple times to achieve the perfect tender-chewy texture, while the naturally odorless mountain goat yields a rich and mellow flavor. Seeking flavor from both sea and land, Fuqing’s rural banquets offer a full-bodied local palate.

Changle

Featuring a large scale, high-end ingredients, and diverse culinary techniques, Changle’s rural banquet culture is vibrant even by national standards. The coastal and riverside geography nurtures an open and inclusive food culture while producing unique local ingredients. Therefore, Changle’s banquets are not mere culinary fusions. They are also steeped in authentic Fujian flavors.

▲Instant-boiled Sea Clam in Chicken Broth

As the “gem of Fujian cuisine”, instant-boiled sea clam in chicken broth uses tender, sweet clams from Zhanggang, Changle. A bowl of clear chicken broth with slightly curled clam meat holds its own against all kinds of imported seafood like king crab.

▲Sticky Rice with Crab and Eight Treasures

Situated at the confluence of fresh and saltwater, Changle is famous for its crabs. These full, meaty crabs are steamed, stir-fried, and topped with hot oil before their savory aroma infuses sticky rice, resulting in the classic dish “sticky rice with crab and eight treasures”, which is still the centerpiece of any Changle rural banquet today.

Lianjiang

An entire banquet is based on the bounty of the sea. In Lianjiang, which ranked first among all Chinese counties in fishery output, even the most lavish rural banquet cannot showcase all the treasures of the ocean. Emphasizing original flavor and seasonal ingredients, Lianjiang rural banquet features not only staple seafoods like abalone and large yellow croaker but also the freshly caught delights of all kinds of seafood that return to the port at the start of every fishing season.

▲ Lianjiang Abalone, Large Yellow Croaker

As the “Hometown of Abalone in China”, Lianjiang’s superior environment and scientific farming methods yield plump, crisp, fresh, and sweet abalone. Lianjiang abalone is of premium quality and versatile: whether in soups, steamed with garlic, braised, salt-baked, or grilled, it’s a staple of local feasts and can even be the centerpiece of an entire banquet. The wild large yellow croaker is another unique fresh delicacy in the Lianjiang rural banquet, known for its firm texture and rich flavor, thanks to deep-sea farming.

▲Lianjiang Fish Balls

Lianjiang is also known as the “Hometown of Fish Balls in China”. With premium ingredients such as shark, eel, and Spanish mackerel, and fish ball-making skills passed down through generations, the signature “meat-filled fish balls” are ubiquitous in local eateries and prized in rural banquets of Lianjiang for their tender texture and rich meat flavor.

Luoyuan

Surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on one, Luoyuan’s rural banquet captures the essence of land and sea with just one “legendary mountain-sea goat.” The county’s strong She ethnic culture also imparts a rustic mountain forest flavor to local rural banquets.

▲Braised Mutton, Roasted Whole Goat, Boiled Mutton

The Luoyuan Xialin goat, a native Fujian breed, is an “Internet celebrity goat”. Hailed by the “Food God” Chua Lam as a “marvel of nature”, it dominates the Luoyuan rural banquet menu: from braised goat neck and marinated goat tongue, to goat tripe soup, sliced goat, blood goat sausage, and whole roasted goat. Raised on poisonous “break-gut grass”, the Xialin goat brings a unique herbal note to the dining table.

▲Black Rice

She-style black rice is another local specialty often dubbed a “dark dish”. Its color comes from fresh Vaccinium bracteatum Thunb., whose juice is extracted with a stone mortar and used to soak glutinous rice for at least 8 hours before steaming in pinewood buckets. The result is a dish rich in rice fragrance and herbal undertones, forming a shared flavor profile across Luoyuan’s rural banquets.

Minqing

Surrounded by green hills and crossed by the Meixi River, Minqing is a mountainous county where eight parts out of ten are hills, one is water, and one is farmland. It boasts abundant seasonal produce, river fish, and poultry. These, combined with bold local cooking styles, yield signature dishes like intensely aromatic rice noodles, sour, aromatic, and appetizing vegetables in vinasse, and fresh, mellow, and oily duck essence, all of which define Minqing’s vibrant rural banquet.

▲Rice Noodles Cooked in Duck Essence, Pork Rib Soup with Vegetables in Vinasse

Melding the aromas of rice, fat, and wine, duck essence-cooked rice noodles are the most iconic dish at a Minqing rural banquet. The broth is made by steaming native Muscovy ducks to extract concentrated essence, then combined with fully sun-dried Chaokou rice noodles and seasoned with local Green & Red Wine. It’s a fresh and savory dish worthy of hosting the entire village. Minqing vegetables in vinasse are another must-have ingredient. They can be stir-fried with rice noodles or simmered with pork ribs, and their sour, aromatic, and appetizing taste is the finishing touch of the Minqing flavor.

▲Minqing Erythroculter Ilishaeformis

In autumn and winter, Minqing’s “number one fresh delicacy”, Erythroculter ilishaeformis, adds a key seasonal river-fresh element to the banquet. Its tender and fresh flesh needs only simple steaming to rival or even surpass that of marine fish, making it a hidden gem on the Minqing rural banquet menu.

Yongtai

Known for its plum wine and spring tea, Yongtai is often seen as a “refreshing” culture and tourism destination. Yet its traditional rural banquet is a feast focused on generous portions and hearty carbs.

▲Yongtai Egg Noodle

Egg noodle is typically the first dish served. Made with sweet potato starch and fresh duck eggs, this specialty noodle absorbs the full flavor of any broth, often cooked with seafood or duck soup. Fresh, savory, and symbolic of peace and good fortune, it holds a prestigious spot on the Yongtai rural banquet.

▲Nine-layer Rice Cake

As the finale, the nine-layer rice cake is crafted from layers of steamed rice paste, requiring meticulous steps including rinsing, grinding, filtering, steaming, and cooking. The resulting cake, smooth as jade, is often served with savory and salty Sesarma dehaani sauce.

Which district in Fuzhou serves the best rural banquet in your opinion? Are there any local rural banquet dishes that left a lasting impression on you?