The China Village Chef Competition kicked off in Shawan Village, Baojing County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture on September 22, which also marked the seventh Chinese Farmers’ Festival, and will continue until October 2. It attracted 115 teams from seven counties and one city to showcase characteristic cooking skills, agricultural products, and ethnic culture across the prefecture.
The participating teams cooked local special dishes, such as sweet and sour fish, and sour meat in a pot.
The “White Jade Duck” of the team from Pushi Town, Luxi County is made with the meat of local ducks that have fed on fish and shrimp by the Yuanjiang River for more than a year. It is fried with freshly pressed rapeseed oil of the local area, and then stewed in mountain spring water with chestnuts, lotus seeds and other ingredients over low heat for half an hour. It is soft and glutinous in the mouth, with a sweet aftertaste.
The “Tujia Ten Big Bowls” (ten dishes) brought by the team from Shawan Village, Baojing County consist of vegetables at the bottom of each bowl and meat covering on the top, with two flavors, and it is oily but not greasy. The ten dishes embody the Tujia people’s good wishes for harmony, reunion, and prosperity. They serve these ten dishes to welcome their most important guests.
The “Miao Fire Phoenix” cooked by the team from Pingba Village, Guzhang County is crispy outside and tender inside, with a delicious sour and spicy flavor and an endless aftertaste.
On the first day of the event, thousands of people dressed in various ethnic costumes jointly witnessed the unique original ecological cooking competition.
The integration of culture and cuisine aims to create a shared brand of village chefs, in a bid to attract tourists, drive new consumption in rural tourism, and promote the rural economic development.
Chinese source: hunantoday
