Sea Worm Jelly

Upon the arrival of Xiamen, one might be recommended to try the local snack "Sea Worm Jelly", since the people in Xiamen rank it as the top snack in that city.

As the story goes, the first one to make this snack was our national hero Zheng Chengong. When Zheng Chenggong was assigned by the Emperor to attack and retrieve Taiwan Island, there occured a shortage of supplies for a period of time. However, as Zheng was well-known for his integrity and strict rules over his troops, he was determined to receive no aids from the local folks. The troops were settled down near the seashore, and the soldiers came to dig out many sea worms from the sand so that Zheng only had some soup boiled with such worms. Zheng also forgot to have meals due to his worries about recovering the lost territory, in which circumstance his subordinates would always have to heat the soup again and again for Zheng.

Once, Zheng ordered his subordinates not to heat again the soup and decided to have the cold soup directly. To his surprise, the cold jelly tasted even better than the warm one-an accidental invention of a new snack. Thereafter, the sea worm jelly began to spread out and has been improved constantly by the later generations, making the famous "Sea Worm Jelly" available to us now.

It is said that the sipunculid worm used to make this jelly is only found along the coastal beach of Xiamen, Haicang and Anhai areas in China, with the ones from Baigu Harbor of Xiamen are the most famous. With good material and further processing, the superior delicay can be made.

Satay Noodles

The origin of satay would be traced back to the South Seas for the countless ties between the two lands. The southern Fujian province is the home town of many overseas Chinese, whose forefather sailed across the ocean and settled in the the South Sea. However, they retain the kinship and ties with their kin at hometown and travel back and forth to their hometown constantly.

Satay, essentially the transliteration from Malaysian, originated from Southeastern Asia. Satay is a variety of seasoning sauce made of sesame, green onion and garlic, vanilla, peanut oil, shrimp and hot pepper, thus attaining the spicy taste and subsequently receiving the name of "satay spicy". As per the textual research done by Mr.Yang Jibo, satay spicy sauce was first brought into Xiamen by overseas Chinese Chen Youxiang. Since childhood Chen had been learning the process to make satay sauce. After a decade of study, he finally mastered the skills and later dedicated to making innovations based on the processes. After he returned to Xiamen, Chen opened a "Chen Youxiang Seasoning Sauce Store", which mainly sold the satay sauce. There were merely more than ten ingredients originally used as the raw materials for satay sauce, and Chen broadened the scope of ingredients to more than twenty. The satay was made into not only sauce but also powder, for the sake of storage and carriage. The overseas Chinese all would like to buy his products, a proof that Chen's skills had already demonstrated high degree of professional proficiency.

Satay noodles are very easy to prepare: first put the noodles in boiling water to be fully cooked and then add scalding hot satay sauce to the noodles while they are still hot. As for the satay meat noodles and satay beef noodles, the meat or beef needs to be sliced so that it could be fully cooked when dipped into hot water. In addition, some bean sprouts and green vegetables going as the embellishment with the noodles would make a bowl of scented yet spicy, quite appetizing satay noodles!

Oyster Omelet

Mix evenly the eggs, put in a large amount of fresh oysters, and then fry both in hot oil until they are shaped into the form of the pancakes, then it is ready for the patrons to enjoy in combination with the indigenous sweet and spicy sauces local to Xiamen. The freshness of the oysters, the rich flavor of omelet and sweetness and spice of red pepper sauce all together just make a perfect match. The sight at this dish would impress the patrons a lot even before they lift up the chopsticks, and drool would have already dropped too much to reach the table end when they finally bring the dish to their mouth.

As to the origin of this snack, there goes a funny anecdote. As the story goes in the folk life, in the year of 1661, while Netherlands sent a troop to invade Tainan Area of Taiwan Island, Zheng Chenggong led his army to break into the Netherland garrison at Lu'ermen in an attempt to retrieve the lost territory. Zheng's troops defeated the Netherlands with irresistible forces. As a result, the angry Netherlands troops concealed all the grains, trying to disrupt the supplies to Zheng's army. However, the Zheng's army came up with an idea in emergencies that they took the Taiwan specialty Oyster, sweet potatoes and water as raw materials to cook pancakes, which was a creative cooking method that unexpectedly was passed down generation by generation to become the most popular snack throughout the province.

Another grounded version goes differently. The oyster omelet was introduced to Taiwan Island with the immigration of Zheng's troops and many Fujian residents, and now it has become the favorite cuisine of the people livings at both sides of the Taiwan Straits. At the East Triangle of Fujian (Quanzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou), cooking oyster omelet is one of the necessary dishes to test the cooking skills of the women. Although the recipe is rather simple, it is difficult to cook well this dish to some degree, as different people would cook different flavors out of the same recipe. For the newly married women, they have to prepare this dish in the first meal that is dedicated to the parents-in-law, who would regard their daughter-in-law with special respect at a nicely-cooked oyster omelet.

Gulangyu Pie

In the 1800s, Gulangyu, which served as the epitome of the exchanges between the oriental and occidental cultures, was greatly admired by people for the magnificent andscape and romantic humanistic feelings. In the year of 1940, pie, the product comprising of "western crust and Chinese stuffing" became popular and available in the market. Several pie makers in Gulangyu, throught their many years of experiences of making it, developed the varieties of pies suited to Chinese eating habits, thus making the Gulangyu Pie famous in history. The Gulangyu Pie has been more than one hundred years up to date on this legendary and romantic island.

The elites making pies gathered together to make a lot of improvements on pies craftsmanship. Dozens of particular processes are involved from ingredient selection to manufactured products. One can clearly find six to eight layers when he or she tears the pies apart, which demonstrates the exquisite skills to make such pies. The pie tastes smooth, chewy, fresh and sweet, especially when one chew carefully and swallow slowly, impressing the patrons with the perfection of skills.

Gulangyu Pie has been introduced to the greater world following the overseas Chinese and travelers. On the basis of retaining the original flavor and processes, the Gulangyu Pies are constantly innovated as they are, being highly praised for its natural essence, top quality and its healthy and palatable features, therefore, reputation comes naturally from real distinction.

Clouds are moved away by the wind, yet the feeling remains there unchanged. Gulangyu Pies are indigenous tastes that people canot remove from their memories.

Zongzi with Meat

Zongzi stuffed with meat ( "the Zongzi" will be used in the following) was originated from Quanzhou and then spread to southern Fujiang Area. The ingredients used to make Zongzi are quite delicate and multiple, with quite elaborate cooking processes of. Having a long history, the Zongzi tastes sweet, oily but not greasy, and looks red or yellow as the case may be. Zongzi has been quite popular both at home and overseas for its special flavor. As a matter of fact, there exists extensive geographical and cultural context in the Zongzi made by Xiamen people. Since ancient times to nowadays, Xiamen has always been the major port in Southeastern coastline with great amount of trade contacts, consequently the number of people travelling seaborne getting boomed.

In Xiamen, the Zongzi is not only the sacrificial offerings on every Dragon Boat Festival to remember the death of Qu Yuan, the ancient poet who jumped into a river to commit suicide, but also the food that could feed the sailors that travelled afloat. Since the Zongzi has the wrapping leaf to keep off the flies or other insects and the damp, it enjoys a long expiration period. In addition, it is easy to store the Zongzi at the boats, and it would suit well either cold or warm to the sailors' preference. Especially those Zongzi with meat stuffing would help cope with starvation. A hot Zongzi with meat stuffing, with some additional sweet and spicy sauce only found in Xiamen and some Chinese parsley or chopped garlic and green onion would make a perfect match that could warm one from his or her mouth down to the stomach.

The famous Zongzi with meat stuffing "Nice Scent" was first started in the year of 1940, and the business was quite good, attracting a lot of patrons to run for a visit to the shop, even if it costs them a further distance. Some overseas Chinese and Hong Kong patrons who have once had or heard of the Zongzi would just carry the basket containing the Zongzi overseas to share this snack with the friends and kins there.

No wonder this sweet Zongzi with meat stuffing, to nobody's surprise, would become the favorite of Xiamen people who cannot give it up deep down in their heart.

Thin Noodle Paste

Thin noodle is made of quality flour and looks pure white, whereas the thin noodle paste refers to the paste cooked by such thin noodles, a kind of paste that emphasizes its ingredients in order. The thin noodle paste mainly relies on the flavor of the soup, for which one can use shrimps, oysters, sea clams, mussels and other seafood with nice taste and good quality as the raw materials to prepare this paste. In addition to the seafood, the coagulated duck or pig blood, or a large intestine would be added into the ingredients as well to make this dish done. A side dish of fried bread stick and some seasonings of fried green onion chops and grinded pepper would make the dish even more palatable with a strong flavor. The simple thin noodle paste takes the advantage of the seafood to become a delicacy, while the seafood is set off to become more fresh by the thin noodles.

The thin noodle paste has to go with the fried bread stick to feed one's appetite. The patrons could enjoy both the crispiness of the first and the glutinousness of the latter, a double-class cuisine with many flavors in it.Or else, the patrons could soak the fried bread sticks into the thin noodle paste and wait until the stick fully absorbs the soup to become soft-the softened fried bread stick would thus taste both chewy and glutinous, a mixture of tastes quite special indeed.

In the early morning at Ludao Island (another beautiful name of Xiamen city), the patrons stroll to the snack shop in twos or threes against the morning sunlight. A bowl of thin noodle paste with a fried bread stick just starts a new day-the patrons can savor the snack to their own satisfaction. Take your time, and enjoy your life.

Xiamen Octopus

Though there are a lot of methods to cook octopus, the scalded octopus is indigenous only in Xiamen. The scalded octopus outlines the original flavor of the octopus, only in which way can retain the original sweetness and freshness of the octopus as one method to cook the authentic Xiamen seafood dishes. Scalded octopus taste quite tender and crispy, with the combination of some crisp cucumber, sour and sweet pickled turnip and some fragrant and sweet Chinese parsley, they would make the dish even more palatable and crispy.

There are two restaurants that cook the scalded octopus in Xiamen are the best-selling, one of which is A'niu Octopus located in Baijia Village. Baijia Village, a name indicating that there is a long history there, actually does enjoy a long history. The house concealed in the fame tree bushes just tells anecdotes and legends, and A'niu Octopus is one of such food sagas.

Three tips that are necessary to master when one pays a visit to the octopus restaurant:

1.Visit the restaurant during summertime and do not during wintertime. The octopus restaurant sells some seafood cold dishes: scaded octopus, sea worm jelly and screw shells, which are great food to relieve the summer heat, whereas in winter they are inappropriate to eat. So under common condtions, the octopus restaurants do not open during winter.

2.Visit the restaurant in the afternoon, and do not in the morning or evening. Usually the octopus restaurant would open only in three p.m. and close its business by seven or eight p.m.. Coming there either too early or too late would just be a waste of time. It is recommended to arrive at the restaurant around four p.m. , and the patrons could order two or three dishes and some wine to go with their chatting, a typical lifestyle of original Xiamen people.

3.It is noteworthy that there are white octopus and red octopus when one tries to have the scalded octopus. The white octopus is big in size with a big belly and short but wide tenacles whereas the red octopus is actually variabilis and has a small belly and long but thin tentacles. On average, the taste of the white octopus is much crisper and more tasty. As a result, the price for white octopus would be higher than that of red octopus.

Peanut Soup

Peanut attains great nutritious values, suitable to both the elderly and the young, and the soup made of peanut is extraordinarily tasty with impressions left on those who have the privilege to have some of it. Peanut to Xiamen folks is as what soybean milk is to Shanghai people, something that one must have a bowl every day. The elder ladies carrying their baskets would just enter one peanut shop in a small group, drinking the soup while chatting with each other, quite at ease. Some school-age children plop themselves down and bury their faces down into the bowl and finish it in just a blink of the eye. For the raw material, only the quality peanuts could be selected to make such smooth-taste soup. The well-prepared peanut soup is viscous and looks light brown, yet the peanuts remain intact even after cooking, floating in the soup like a beauty just out of the shower, trying to hide with shyness.

In various ceremonies at Xiamen, for instance, wedding ceremony, birthday party or such occasions as this, the peanut soup can be found there. The plump peanuts symbolizes the wishes of Xiamen people for happiness and consummation and its full integration into the food culture of Xiamen and even the greater scope of Fujian Province, a sign that people have expectations for the pursuit of a happier life. Without any doubt, the peanut soup is frequently viewed at the dining table.

Yu Guangyuan, a famous economist of China, has visited Xiamen twice in his life, and each time he would have the peanut soup, with his best acclaims givento the Huangzehe Peanut Soupn this case, can anyone miss such a fabulous cuisine?