A Bite of Fuzhou | Xing Na: Fuzhou, a Flowing Feast
Editor’s Note:
Fuzhou, a Flowing Feast, is a brand-new urban culinary culture column launched by A Bite of Fuzhou. We are honored to invite veteran media professional, lifestyle writer, and manager of Model Bookstore, Ms. Xing Na, to serve as the lead author. With her unique cultural perspective and keen insight into everyday life, she will guide readers through the texture and warmth of the city of Fuzhou.
Xing Na’s own story reads like a flowing prose poem. Journeying from a northern city to Fuzhou’s Yantaishan, she defines this land as a “city of rebirth,” seeking cultural resonance amid its historic architecture and everyday bustle. As a seasoned journalist, she is adept at capturing the fine details of urban life with a delicate touch. Her “cultural drifting” with Model Bookstore further blends the avant-garde spirit of Beijing’s bookstores with the native culture of Fuzhou, forming a distinctive part of the city’s ongoing renewal.
In 1936, writer Yu Dafu penned Men and Women Drinking and Eating in Fuzhou, allowing the people of China at the time to glimpse the vibrant and romantic world of Fuzhou through his words. In 2025, we invite Xing Na to offer a unique perspective through the eyes of an outsider.
From the aroma of coffee in Yantaishan to the tides of the Min River, from traditional tea and liquor culture to the bustling world of local street snacks, Fuzhou, a Flowing Feast centers each edition on a cultural vignette. It is both Xing Na’s immersive chronicle of life in Fuzhou and an open dialogue with the city’s future. Let us follow her and, through her words, experience the richness and fluidity of Fuzhou.
Fuzhou Family Banquet
If walking is the best way to get to know a city, then the best way to understand a place’s cuisine is through a family banquet. Fuzhou is often jokingly referred to as “the least noticeable” provincial capital. At the heart of it, this is simply because the people of Fuzhou are exceptionally low-key. So why does this city feel so relaxed?
It’s not a deliberately cultivated sense of ease - it’s inherent. The people here are not naturally carefree optimists, but they do know how to maintain a balance between tension and relaxation. Going back to the flourishing tea trade in the Qing Dynasty, Fuzhou was already renowned at home and abroad as a “World Tea Port,” with Mount Wuyi tea and other Chinese teas shipped overseas or distributed to other cities through this gateway. In Fuzhou, nearly every meal begins with tea, even formal business meetings typically take place over a tea table, while the dining table is reserved for celebratory toasts.
Having lived in Fuzhou for three years, my favorite experiences have been the family banquets at friends’ homes, where I could savor the most home-cooked flavors. This time, two international friends happened to be in town, and a friend invited us all over for a home banquet in the style of an “ordinary local household”. As someone always on the lookout for free food and drink, how could I possibly miss out? This wasn’t my first time crashing a family banquet at my friend Z’s home. His home is in Cangshan District, a century-old residence that feels like a living sample of life in Fuzhou.
Z is a Fuzhou local with a deep and abiding love for Cangshan. You could think of Cangshan as a land-based version of Gulangyu Island, adjacent to Yantaishan, a small hill less than 50 meters high that once hosted numerous consulates and churches. Z’s home closely resembles the small Western-style villas found on Tianjin’s Five Great Avenues or in the small Western-style buildings in Wutong District, Shanghai. In Fuzhou, a city known for its thriving ancient house culture, there is also a distinct Western flair.
There’s a saying in Fuzhou: “As long as there’s red lees, life won’t be too hard.”
In Fujian, customs vary greatly from place to place. The red lees beloved by people in Eastern Fujian are, in Southern Fujian, usually only served at funerals. But in Fuzhou’s most popular wet markets, all these customs become fascinating through the lens of Fuzhou locals. A perfect family banquet often begins at the market. If it’s your first time visiting the Xianfeng Vegetable Market in Cangshan District, it’s best to be prepared because it’s extremely “original”.
The vegetable market is a perfect embodiment of hustle and bustle. You’ll see crowds of curious out-of-towners gathered around the stand selling nuojiji (an Internet-famous local sticky rice snack); you’ll be amazed by the dazzling variety of Fuzhou fish balls and wonder why there are so many types you can’t even name them all. The way seafood is sold is incredibly traditional—some vendors use large wooden basins filled with live, fresh catch, making you feel as if you’ve stepped into an aquarium. The assortment of fried snacks, vegetables, fruits, flatbread stalls, and braised delicacies will leave you overwhelmed…
The first time I stepped into this vegetable market, it felt as though I had suddenly broken into a database of Fuzhou’s everyday life.
People in Fuzhou love eating spring rolls, and this dish must be on the menu during the New Year. Calling them spring rolls is more like the northern-style spring pancakes, while the filling is more like the southern-style mixed stir-fry, but the pancake itself is made with care. Z’s wife recalled that this dish might be added to the banquet menu at home, so we watched the vendor “make it fresh” right in front of the stall.
Pork wonton is a special snack unique to Fuzhou. Locals call it “meat wrapped in meat”. In my professional explanation, the meat is pounded into a wrapper similar to wonton skin, then filled with seasoned pork mince. What we commonly understand as small wontons are called “flat meat” in Fuzhou. The highest honor at a Fuzhou banquet, the “Peace Pork Wonton”, uses pork wontons and duck eggs as ingredients. In the Fuzhou dialect, “duck egg” sounds like “ya luan” or “ya lang,” meaning that all the chaos in life is suppressed, so peace is achieved. Nowadays, Peace Pork Wonton includes quail eggs (replacing duck eggs) and fish balls, which are all cooked together. When you eat them, they must be in even numbers; odd numbers are not allowed.
Besides a passion for red lees, usually made into red lees pork paired with light buns, Fuzhou people also love a delicacy called Sesarmidae crisp, which is made by crushing a small crab native to the Min River basin in Fuzhou. It is usually eaten dipped in jellyfish or served with congee. If you can appreciate this taste, Fuzhou people will like you, believing you understand their flavor preferences.
“For Fuzhou locals, ‘do not eat against the seasons’ is very important.” For example, a kind of clam that outsiders pronounce as “xiǎn zi” is called “niū yāng” locally. These clams only appear in the very clean waters of the Min River basin and are basically only eaten in the homes of food connoisseurs. Besides making soup, Fuzhou uses shrimp oil for seasoning, which is actually the fish sauce we commonly consume.
Fuzhou also has a local style of raw marinating. Indeed, it’s something we never advertise. It is paired with the first-harvest purple seaweed, which you are very likely to find only locally. It also requires pounded green olives inside, giving a more lingering and elegant aroma. Usually, fragrant vinegar is mostly used, and white pepper powder is essential. The blood clams are plump, and the marinade is clear. You simply can’t stop eating.
Wealthy regions often use sugar, and Fuzhou is also a “sweet and sour” city. If you come here for the first time, you may wonder why it’s sweeter than even Jiangnan. Lychee sweet and sour pork and deep-fried tenderloin are representative dishes. Locals also like stir-frying their local cabbage mustard with Fujian aged wine and sugar. This flavor is affectionately called “sugar wine stir-fry.”
At the banquet that day, the most eye-catching dish was the roast duck from the well-known Wangjianglou restaurant in the city, personally delivered by the founder. The local Fuzhou roast duck surprisingly has a jasmine fragrance. There was also a steamed dish of red crab with vermicelli and napa cabbage, harvested fresh from the day’s market, not served with meat patties but with cabbage, giving a very unique home-style flavor. If Fuzhou people were to recommend just one dessert, it would definitely be tar paste. After adding a generous amount of lard, the tar paste becomes silky smooth. It is mildly sweet yet intensely fragrant with taro aroma, much like the life of Fuzhou people.
The scent of jasmine tea lingers throughout the friend’s large residence, just like the personality of Fuzhou people. They are low-key and discreet in the bustling city, yet their soul emits a gentle and elegant fragrance. Only then do I truly understand what teacher Chen Xiaoqing said: at a meal gathering, the most “delicious” thing is still the people…