Visit Meishan this October and Discover the Secrets behind the Worldwide Craze for Chinese Cuisine

CHENGDU, China, Oct. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Between October 28 and November 3, the 2019 "Chinese Cuisine" Art Festival and Sichuan Cuisine Innovation and Development Conference will be held in the city of Meishan in Sichuan Province. The conference is sponsored by the People's Government of Meishan. Dongpo cuisine, as one of the signatures of Sichuan cuisine, is slated to take center stage.

The event sponsor has revealed that this event will host a plethora of activities such as the Meishan Dongpo Cuisine Symposium, "Chinese Cuisine" and Sichuan Cuisine Industry Innovation and Development Summit, "Chinese Cuisine" Dongpo Cuisine Tasting Banquet, "Taste of Meishan" Culinary Exploration, a gastronomic carnival for the public, and numerous tours and exchanges.

Sichuan cuisine has always been an emblem of the top echelon of Chinese gastronomic sophistication. In the eyes of most people, the profile of Sichuan cuisine is noted for its numbness, spiciness, heat and fragrance, but in reality, Sichuan cuisine has a common repertoire of 24 types of flavors, with even more wide-ranging preparation methods. The Chinese people, long been regarded for their culinary finesse, often use the phrase "one style to each dish, a hundred tastes in a hundred dishes" to praise the wonders of Sichuan cuisine. Of which, "Dongpo cuisine" is considered a paragon.

"Dongpo cuisine" was born in Meishan. This city sits on the magical latitude of 30 degrees north, and is well-known since antiquity as a place blessed by copious produce, exemplified in its numerous titles such as "Home of Unique Chinese Agricultural Produce and Byproduct," "Home of High Quality Chinese Rice," and "Home of Chinese Pickled Vegetables". In addition, Meishan is famous as producer of the "soul of Sichuan cuisine" - Dongpo pickled vegetable and the "finishing touch of Sichuan cuisine" - the Hongya mastic-leaf prickly ash oil.In particular, the Dongpo pickled vegetable is treasured for its low salt content, crunchy texture and distinct flavor, and has been sold to more than 70 nations and regions around the world including Europe, America, Japan and South Korea.

"Dongpo cuisine" is named after Su Dongpo (Su Shi), one of the most prominent and prolific literati of ancient China. As a Meishan native, Su Dongpo was revered for his literary prowess and has left the world a bevy of poems and songs that have been venerated for generations. But he was also a practitioner and disseminator of culinary theories and the Dongpo cuisine he invented is still thriving today.

From Dongpo pork shoulder and Dongpo pork to Dongpo fish and Dongpo bamboo shoot, these delicacies not only satisfy the taste buds, but are also flavors distilled through history. Meishan is one of the primary places of inheritance of "Dongpo cuisine," and not only has it been named one of the seven major culinary cities of China by some authoritative organization, but has also been recognized as the "Chinese city famous for Dongpo culinary culture" by the China Cuisine Association.

For over nine centuries, dozens of generations of Meishan people have inherited and developed Dongpo cuisine, gradually delving deeper, more refined, more intricate and more expansive. Take the Meizhou Dong Po Restaurant for example, after more than two decades of development, it has expanded into a behemoth with over 150 branches around the globe and more than 10,000 staffs, ascending as a leading enterprise that spearheads the international expansion of Sichuan-style food and catering. Meizhou Dong Po upholds the quintessence of Sichuan culinary traditions while incorporating the innovations of neo-Sichuan cuisine in order to enable diners to thoroughly revel in the charms of Sichuan food, thus it is no doubt the beset representative of Sichuan cuisine in Meishan. Just as founder Mr. Wang Gang once said, "one end of Dongpo cuisine is rooted in Meishan, and the other end is reaching the mouth of the world".

As a fertile soil for gastronomic delights, Meishan has also cultivated a score of culinary creators. According to incomplete statistics, there are some ten thousand Sichuan cuisine chefs with Meishan origin all over the world, and they can be found in all provinces and municipalities across China and most nations and regions around the globe. In September 2017, the China Cuisine Association honored Meishan with the title "Home of Sichuan Cuisine Chefs in China".

As of present, Meishan is home to approximately 10,000 food and catering organizations, and six unique food streets that amount to 10.5km in total length. In 2018, the food and catering industry of Meishan recorded RMB 9.258 billion in total business income.

The prosperity of the food and catering market has been a powerful driver of growth in closely related businesses like the production and processing of raw materials, ingredients and condiments. In recent years, the city of Meishan has dedicated emphatic effort into fostering the "Flavors in Meishan" food industries that cover 13 categories of highly competitive and unique product varieties like pickles, grain, oil, fruits and vegetables. Through open cooperation, support for enterprises to expand production and enhance industrial development, the "Flavors in Meishan" food industries have recorded RMB 83.95 billion in sales income in 2018, and a hundred million-yuan target has been set for 2020.

The 2019 "Chinese Cuisine" Art Festival and Sichuan Cuisine Innovation and Development Conference is a culinary cultural gala for the taste bud. With Dongpo cuisine as the conduit, it welcomes gastronomes and master chefs from around the world to come to Meishan and discover the secrets behind Chinese cuisine.

SOURCE The People's Government of Meishan