Formation and Characteristics of Shanghai Cuisine

In the Tang Dynasty, Shanghai was a seaside fishing village. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Shanghai Town was set up; and in 1291, Shanghai County was established. Before the Opium War, Shanghai was a medium-sized city, with an advanced catering trade, but Shanghai Cuisine had not been formed yet. After the Opium War in 1843, Shanghai was opened up by the Qing government as a trading port under an unfair agreement signed with Britain. And after that, western powers began to establish settlements in Shanghai.To get more news about shanghai Chinese cuisine, you can visit shine news official website.

Therefore, in the early 20th century, various western cuisines were introduced to Shanghai. Then, the catering trade developed rapidly. Various local schools of Chinese cuisine, especially the schools of South China, vied with each other for good lots and customers, which provided conditions for Shanghai to adopt the advantages of other schools of cuisine. Between the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early times of the Republic of China, a large number of restaurants serving 11 kinds of local schools of cuisine ran a business in Shanghai, among which those served foods of Suzhou and Wuxi cuisine ranked first in number.

Since the 1980s，great changes have taken place in Shanghai’s catering trade, and all kinds of schools of Chinese cuisine have flourished in Shanghai. At the end of the last century, the restaurants in Shanghai totaled over 30,000, including more than 650 restaurants serving different foreign food from over 40 countries and regions. Now Shanghai is regarded as one of the most famous food paradises.
In Shanghai, tourists can taste delicacies from all parts of China, as well as dishes and snacks of all the other countries in the world.

Shanghai ranks first in China in terms of the varieties of foreign food. As early as in the 1940s, there were already over 100 western restaurants and cafes in Shanghai. Then, at the end of the 20th century, the number of foreign restaurants and cafes increased to over 650. These restaurants and cafes served the food of over 40 countries, such as "Mexico Restaurant," "Portugal Restaurant," "Middle East Barbecue," "Argentine Roast Meat," "De Da Western Restaurant" and "Red House."

Today, Japanese, Korean and French restaurants, Kentucky and McDonald's can be seen everywhere in the metropolis. In a word, Shanghai offers all kinds of food in the world, including French, Russian, British, German, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese cuisines, as well as the food of the countries in Southeast Asia, and South America.
Eight-treasure Duck

The ingredients of the dish are a whole duck, glutinous rice, peas, ham, peeled shrimp, bamboo shoots, chestnut, dried scallop, chicken's gizzard, shiitake, chicken, and various kinds of seasonings.

Procedure: slice open the back of the duck and remove the innards; cut off the duck's feet; place the duck in a pot of boiled water for a little while then take it out and clean it; apply soy sauce, Yellow Rice Wine, white sugar and other seasonings to the duck; place the duck in a bowl with its belly facing up; cut the ham, bamboo shoot, dried scallop, and shiitake into small pieces; soak the glutinous rice with water, and steam the rice; stir-fry the ginger and spring onion in a pan before adding cooking wine; put the pieces of the shiitake, bamboo shoot, ham, chestnut, dried scallop, chicken in the pan; add soy sauce, and white sugar; mix the steamed rice with the ingredients in the pan and stuff the duck with the mixture; seal the bowl with cellophane; steam the duck until it is well done.

Dish Prepared with Old Distillers' Grain in Jar

The ingredients of the dish include pig's lungs, liver, large intestine, stomach, heart, and feet, ham, Shiitake, bamboo shoots, fried tofu, rice wine sauce, spring onion, ginger slices, Yellow Rice Wine, salt and meat broth.

Procedure: Clean the internal organs of the pig listed above; put them into a jar together with hams and sliced bamboo shoots; add some distillers' grain, salt, meat broth, and other seasonings, and steam it.It is rumored that this dish was invented by a woman in the rural areas of the Jiading District in Shanghai. The dish is full of the characteristics of the countryside in South China