Fujian Cuisine (Min Cuisine) is one of China’s Eight Great Cuisines. It evolved from the blending of Han culture from the Central Plains and the culture of the ancient Minyue people. Originating in Fuzhou and based on Fuzhou-style cooking, it later integrated the culinary styles of eastern Fujian, southern Fujian, western Fujian, northern Fujian, and the Putian-Xianyou region.
Fujian Cuisine gradually took shape through the mixing and exchange between Han culture from the Central Plains and the local ancient Yue culture.
In Chu Xue Ji (Elementary Learning Notes) by Xu Jian of the Tang Dynasty, it is written: “Red yeast from Guazhou, mixed in equal parts, soft, smooth, rich and moist, melting in the mouth.” After red yeast was brought to Fujian by immigrants from the Central Plains, it became widely used. The color red thus became a dominant tone in the culinary aesthetics of Fujian Cuisine. Red lees with a distinctive aroma also became a common seasoning. Dishes such as red lees fish, red lees chicken, and red lees pork are staples of Fujian Cuisine, and “cooking with red yeast” has become one of its defining characteristics.
With the passage of time, Fujian Cuisine has absorbed the strengths of various culinary traditions while preserving traditional techniques. It refined and adjusted coarse and greasy practices, gradually evolving toward a style that is delicate, light, and elegant, eventually developing into a highly refined culinary system.In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican period, a number of renowned local restaurants and skilled chefs emerged in Fujian. As a major hub of foreign trade at the time, Fujian boasted restaurants famous for Manchu-Han banquets, official-style dishes, or distinctive local flavors, each with its own strengths, driving the formation and continuous improvement of regional culinary styles.
Due to Fujian’s long maritime history and frequent overseas exchanges, its food culture gradually developed into a unique cuisine with an open character.Fujian Cuisine is celebrated for its skill in cooking mountain delicacies and seafood. On the basis of excellent color, aroma, taste and appearance, it excels especially in fragrance and flavor. With its elegant, tender, mellow, and lasting taste, as well as a great variety of soups, it stands out as one of China’s Eight Great Cuisines and enjoys worldwide fame.
Fuzhou Cuisine
As the mainstream of Fujian Cuisine, Fuzhou dishes are characterized by freshness, tenderness, elegance, and an emphasis on soups.Fuzhou Cuisine makes good use of red lees as a seasoning and pays great attention to soup-making, giving a sense of “a hundred soups, a hundred flavors” and strong red lees aroma. Representative dishes include Braised Fish Maw in Clear Soup, Fish Lips with Minced Meat, Bird’s Nest with Shredded Chicken, Clams in Chicken Soup, Eel Cooked with Red Lees, and Fresh Razor Clams with Light Red Lees, all with strong regional characteristics.Fuzhou Cuisine features selective ingredients, precise knife skills, careful heat control, emphasis on soup-making, creative use of seasonings, and diverse flavors.
Southern Fujian Cuisine
Popular in Xiamen, Jinjiang, Youxi, and extending to Taiwan, southern Fujian dishes are fresh, mellow, fragrant, tender, and light. They are known for delicate seasoning and skillful use of spicy and aromatic flavors, with unique applications of satay, mustard, orange juice, medicinal herbs, and fine fruits.Representative dishes include Dongbi Dragon Balls, Steamed Grouper, Satay Beef Stir-Fry, Braised Tendons with Scallions, Beef Brisket with Angelica, and Jiahe Crispy Chicken, which vividly reflect the rich food culture of southern Fujian.
Western Fujian Cuisine
Western Fujian borders Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi, and its cuisine is dominated by Hakka cooking. It often uses unique local mountain ingredients, featuring strong rural characteristics, plentiful soups, light flavors, and nourishing properties.Representative dishes include Stir-Fried Mountain Rat, Braised White Fish, Braised Stone Frog, Stir-Fried Fresh Mushrooms, Honeycomb Lotus Seeds, Golden Silk Tofu, Unicorn Elephant Belly, and Nine-Ingredient Hot Pot, which embody traditional rural eating customs and distinctive regional flavors.
Central Fujian Cuisine
Represented by Sanming and Shaxian dishes, it is mainly popular in the Sanming area.Central Fujian Cuisine is known for its unique flavors, exquisite craftsmanship, wide variety, and affordability, with snacks making up the majority. The most famous is Shaxian Snacks, which include more than 260 varieties, with over 47 available year-round, covering wonton series, tofu series, shaomai series, taro series, and beef offal series. Highlights include shaomai, wontons, Xiamo taro dumplings, mudfish noodles, fish balls, heart-tofu balls, rice jelly, rice cakes, and xiguo fruit.
Northern Fujian Cuisine
Represented by Nanping dishes, it prevails in northern Fujian.The region is rich in local specialties such as shiitake mushrooms, red mushrooms, bamboo shoots, Jian lotus seeds, and coix seeds, as well as game including hare, wild goat, muntjac, and snake, all premium ingredients.Major dishes include the Fuxi Eight-Trigram Banquet, Wengong Dish, Manting Banquet, Snake Banquet, Tea Banquet, boiled rabbit, smoked goose, dried carp, dragon-phoenix soup, fried rice cakes, stir-fried winter bamboo shoots, chrysanthemum fish, double-money egg mushrooms, chicken in tomato sauce, Jian’ou salted duck, and Xiayang osmanthus cake.
Putian-Xianyou Cuisine
Represented by Putian dishes, it is popular in the Putian-Xianyou region.It features a strong rural flavor. Signature dishes and snacks include Xinghua rice noodles, Putian braised noodles, braised pork, Putian mountain-style starchy noodles, Xitianwei wontons, sliced pork belly, stir-fried starch noodles, poached lamb, braised tofu, pork trotters stewed with Chinese herbs, sea worm jelly, hot and sour squid soup, and Putian fried buns.
Cooking Features and Classic Dishes of Fujian Cuisine
Fujian Cuisine is characterized by clear soups, light flavors, crispy stir-fries, and expertise in preparing seafood. Its main cooking techniques include steaming, pan-frying, stir-frying, quick-frying, braising, deep-frying, and stewing.
In addition to its signature dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, other famous dishes and snacks include Fuding pork slices, clams in chicken soup, eight-treasure rice with crab, stir-fried razor clams, tai chi taro paste, snail slices with light red lees, double-crisp stir-fry, southern-fried liver, litchi-flavored pork, drunken pork ribs, shark’s fin in lotus pouch, dragon-body phoenix-tailed shrimp, jadeite pearl abalone, shredded chicken with bamboo shoots, fish lips with minced meat, dingbianhu (rice noodle paste), Fuzhou fish balls, meat wontons, Zhangzhou braised noodles, Putian braised noodles, oyster omelet, Shaxian mixed noodles, wontons, Xiamen satay noodles, rice noodle paste, southern Fujian salty rice, Xinghua rice noodles, red lees fish, wuliuju stew, snow-white chicken, Changting dried tofu, and braised fish maw in clear soup, all with unique and distinctive flavors.