After generations of Chinese people paid tribute to food and practiced different ways to cook them, they’ve also created some connections to mysteries of the world and established civilization.
With the broadcasting A Bite of China 3, Chinese cuisine, again, grabs people’s attention.
A panorama view of the museum
Why Huaiyang cuisine is so popular? Why Huaiyang dishes are the main courses of state banquet?
Why our first state banquet welcomed guests with Huaiyang cuisine?
Premier Zhou Enlai is the key to these questions.Even if you’re a foodie, you might not know that there’s a Huaiyan Cuisine Museum in Jiangsu and there’re legends about it.
It’s the 120th anniversary of Premier Zhou Enlai.
On the evening of October 1, 1949, Zhou Enlai hosted a banquet in Beijing Hotel to entertain guests from home and abroad who attended the founding ceremony. what kind of cuisine should be the main dishes of the first state banquet?
With over 600 hundred guests attending this banquet, how should the host cater to everybody’s taste?
The guests came from every corner of China. In order to satisfy most of them, Premier Zhou Enlai deliberately decided to choose Huaiyang cuisine, which is compatible with the popular tastes of the north and south cuisines.
The reason why Premier Zhou Enlai chose Huaiyang cuisine is mainly because of its taste and characteristics. Huaiyang cuisine is mainly light salty and delicious, soft and tender and smooth, which can satisfy the taste of most of the guests.
More importantly, Huaiyang cuisine is well-known for its using ordinary ingredients to make high-grade, simple yet elegant courses, in line with the reality of the shortage of resources at the beginning of the founding of New China. Therefore, as the first feast of the new China in 1949, Huaiyang cuisine surprisingly impressed people. With house-hold ingredients and materials, Huaiyang cuisine is well-made with a moderate flavor, attracting favor and obsession from across the world.
Since then, the state banquet dishes have been Huaiyang-flavored, while the standard is “four dishes and one soup” set by Premier Zhou Enlai. Zhou also preferred Huaiyang cuisine when he hosted foreign friends and on not only one occasions, Zhou commented the food from his hometown: Huaiyang cuisine focuses on fine work and flavor, giving a glimpse of Chinese cultural essence.
Today in one of the birthplaces of Huaiyang cuisine, Huai’an, there is a Museum of Huaiyang Cuisine Culture, which showcases the history and skills of Huaiyang cuisine. It elaborates every story behind every famous dish. When it comes to holidays, people could relish the delicacies while enjoy beautiful scenery and listen to historical stories. Huai’an, has become a paradise for foodies.
