Enjoy Delicacies in Shanghai

Enjoying food is always something significant and charming in Shanghai. Therefore, of natives of Shanghai or people living and working in Shanghai, visitors from other parts of China, compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and overseas friends and guests, no one is ever willing to miss the opportunity to enjoy the delicacies in Shanghai.

Just as Shanghai itself, the food in Shanghai also represents the characteristic of broad-mindedness and readiness to accept. No matter what kind of cuisine and no matter where it comes, it will be accepted in Shanghai. What's more, it will get rooted in Shanghai and serve the natives of Shanghai and the people that make a short or long stay in Shanghai the dishes they love to eat and the dishes they want to eat.

Actually, when Shanghai was but a small fishing village, the villagers began to work at sunrise and stopped to rest at sunset. At the time of barely making two ends meet, it was almost a kind of sleep-talk to chat about food culture or food and beverage. As for snacks, there were only a few kinds such as tiny rice dumplings, small wonton, steamed rice-powder cakes, etc.

However, after Shanghai became a trading port, merchants flocked here from various places. Those from Anhui brought with them the Anhui cuisine, those from Guangdong the Guangdong cuisine, etc. Before long, Shanghai grew prosperous in economy and its population expanded. With the large numbers of people from other parts of China thronging into Shanghai, the food cultures from various places merged and complemented one another, thus considerably enriching the Shanghai cuisine. Because of the increasing number of diners, the number of restaurants in Shanghai grew accordingly. On the eve of Liberation, Shanghai had had 18 cuisines: Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan, Anhui, Fujian, Hunan, Huaiyang, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Wuxi, Tianjin, Chaozhou, Vegetarian, Islamic, Western, and Local, etc. And the number of restaurants had reached approximately 100. The restaurants of diversified cuisines made their debut and competed with each other in Shanghai; as a result, people living in Shanghai had the opportunity to enjoy delicacies.

Ever since the adoption of reform and opening-up, the exchanges and communications at home and abroad have become more and more frequent. Every day, countless business people and friends, domestic and overseas, come to and go away from Shanghai. Consequently, the food-and-beverage market has been booming with a large variety of dishes: Shanghai chicken, Guangdong live seafood, Chongqing hot food, Japanese teppanyaki, Hangzhou duck soup, etc. A few years ago, the Hangzhou cuisine became the dominant food fashion in Shanghai. Then, the Ningbo cuisine, which is characteristic of saltiness and tastiness, seemed to be in full swing. And even the Hunan cuisine, which was Mao Zedong's favorite, also won high appreciation by Shanghai people. At the same time, the home dishes by the minority peoples of Northwest China would like to try a chance for the purpose of providing a strong stimulus to the benumbed palate of Shanghai people.

Some people have wondered whether it is possible to enjoy different delicacies all over the world in one city. In Shanghai, which has undergone the reform and opening-up for 30 years, it is no long a dream to savor all the nice foods of the world even without bothering to walk out of Shanghai. According to the statistics by authorities, the number of restaurants in Shanghai has exceeded 40,000, and they are scattered in all parts of the city. And the number of cuisines has also gone beyond 18; actually there are cuisines as follows: Local, Huaiyang, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Guangdong (including tea restaurants; restaurants serving bird's nest, abalone and shark's fin), Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan and Guizhou, Beijing, Xinjiang, Islamic, Northeast China, Fujian (including vegetarian food, Taiwan cuisine, novel dishes, etc.), hotpot, BBQ, red swamp crawfish, Japanese foods and teppanyaki, Korean foods, Thai, Singaporean, Vietnamese, Indian, French, Italian, Spanish, steak, pizza, Latin-American BBQ, Western luncheon, buffet, other Western foods, in addition to bread and dessert. Besides restaurants, there are cafes, bars, and teahouses. In Shanghai, people could enjoy a large variety and a rich diversity of foods. Therefore, some people have said in jest that Shanghai has "put the world on the plate."

As one of the serial bi lingual (Chinese and English) books You Are Welcome to Shanghai, Food in Shanghai mainly introduces where people can enjoy food and beverage in Shanghai; in other words, this book can serve as a guide book for delicacies in Shanghai.

New restaurants are emerging like mushrooms, and the food-and-beverage market is assuming a new appearance day by day. This fully reflects the rapid speed at which Shanghai is developing into an international metropolis, and enables people to deeply feel that Shanghai is playing the march of our times. Hereby we feel very proud!

Friends and guests from home and abroad, you are welcome to Expo 2010 Shanghai China. However, when you are in Shanghai, never forget to have a try of the delicacies in Shanghai. It is really a great enjoyment in life to eat and savor different delicious foods!