On September 4th, Grand Canal Culture and Tourism Expo was going on, the Cultural and Tourism Department and Provincial Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Province jointly invited nearly a hundred of foreign envoys to China, representatives from offices of foreign cultural and tourism department and foreign business representatives from 28 countries (regions) and 38 institutes to participate in the event called “canals in Jiangsu”. In the evening, foreign friends enjoyed Huaiyang Cuisine (one of the four mayor Chinese cuisines) by attending buffet of new Chinese style organized by Nanjing Museum, Yangzhou Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism Bureau and Yangzhou Yangtze Investment&Development Group Ltd.
On the center of the 7-meter table were acrylic Wuting Bridge, Bai Bridge and 24 Bridge, besides were delicate food of Huaiyang Cuisine, including lotus crisp, moon steamed dumpling, Ruyi pastry, squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish, Babao duck of the size of a lollipop and so on. Compared with traditional Huaiyang Cuisine, the cold dish of new style could be eaten by one bite because of it’s small size. This was beyond people’s understanding of traditional Chinese food and was novel for foreign friends attending the expo.
“The new Chinese-style cold dish buffet offered traditional Chinese food in the form of a western buffet, so it’s in line with the dining habit of foreign friends and the advocation ‘to save instead of waste’.”, said the buffet designer Li Zeng, associate professor of Jiangsu College Of Tourism and Chinese cuisine master. There were traces of invention in many aspects. For example, in the sequence of dishes, there were five aspects, including overture, interlude, theme, lingering sound and finale. The buffet was like a symphony with rhyme and climax presented to audience. In terms of size, the food could be eaten by one-bite.
Attendees were amazed by cooks who were showing their best skills to conjure up dish including sculpture of fruits and vegetables, ribbon-decorated tofu, wensi tofu, mini lotus crisp, Yangzhou Duck's egg fried rice... Cook masters amazed attendees with their excellent skills. Ni Qiuxiang, famous Chinese cook, was a representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage project of “yechun flour-made food techniques”. She showed her skills to make local flour-made food in Yangzhou on site. With a few moves, She used the rolling pin to make a red flat pastry which was a part of mini lotus crisp. The finished pastry was just like a real lotus with it’s petals stretching to the air. “It’s delicious, carefully-made and amazing.”, said a friend from another countries who enjoyed the one-bite Huaiyang cuisine. He also prized the cooks who presenting outstanding cooking skills, saying that “I have no idea that Huaiyang cuisine can be made this way which enables it to be a delicious meal and a piece of art”.
Besides the buffet, there were all kinds of events, attendees could be touched through taste and sight by watching promotion video, enjoying a show of cooking technique, listening to traditional music performance, listening to an introduction of cuisine by masters and so on. “This is the first debut of Chinese cold-dish buffet in China”, introduced by officials from municipal Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism Bureau. It’s also a new attempt of practitioners of traditional Huanyang cuisine, letting foreign friends to have a try of original taste and to have a clear understanding of profound culture behind this kind of food. Meanwhile, the expo helped to introduce Huaiyang cuisine to the international society with the precious brands of “the city of canals” and “the city of food”.