China News Service, Lanzhou, November 14th (Korean Science) Rose petals are used as accessories to decorate traditional dishes such as hand-caught mutton; local salmon and other ingredients are sculptured into rose shapes, creating a rose-themed banquet in all aspects from color, flavor to visual shape.
At the "Rose Banquet Craftsmanship Cup" food and cooking competition recently held in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, catering practitioners from Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai competed on the same stage, deeply integrating rose elements into traditional dishes, and allowing a new flower of "romantic economy" to bloom on the northwest dining table.
The contestants innovate on the basis of retaining the authentic taste and classic craftsmanship of Hezhou cuisine, and create dishes that combine traditional heritage, regional characteristics and fashionable creativity, leaving diners with endless aftertaste.
This competition has three competition categories: hot dishes, cold dishes, and noodles. In addition to the active participation of local catering companies, it also attracted cooking teams from Ningxia, Qinghai and other places. The competition is not only an arena for culinary competition, but also a platform for northwest flavor exchange.
"I have long heard that Linxia cuisine has a profound heritage and distinctive characteristics. Our participation this time is not only a technical competition, but also a rare learning and exchange opportunity." Ma Wenke, the chief chef of a catering company in Haiyuan County, Zhongwei City, Ningxia, said that Linxia's innovative methods and development concepts of integrating rose characteristics into traditional cuisine are worth learning. We also hope to bring Ningxia's cooking experience to Linxia, so that everyone can promote each other and improve together.
Chen Jianxiong, a local catering practitioner, said that the competition has established a platform for local chefs to showcase their cooking skills and exchange and learn.
"A qualified banquet is an overall fusion of color, flavor and shape." Zhao Chang'an, president of Gansu Long Cuisine Association and one of the judges of this competition, said that this competition requires participating teams to prepare a complete banquet with eight cold and eight hot dishes, and select single items with excellent craftsmanship and ingenious conception from all entries to create a library of high-quality dishes.
Ma Huilun, a member of the Party Committee of the Linxia Municipal Commerce Bureau and director of the Linxia Food Industry Development Center, said that holding this competition will ultimately promote the Rose Banquet to enter business districts, scenic spots, and the mass consumer market.
Linxia is located in the northwest inland and has a long history of flower cultivation. Hezhou peony has a wide variety of varieties and rich colors. Among them, the purple-spotted peony is unique and is also known as "Little Luoyang" in the local area. In recent years, the local government has continued to make efforts to target the "romantic economy" and built the Yinong International Flower Port, known as the "Rose Super Factory". Today, more than 200,000 fresh-cut flowers are sold at home and abroad every day. Sufficient flower production can provide industrial support for rose food innovation.
The food industry is an industry that Linxia City focuses on building to enrich the people. In recent years, the local area has continued to strengthen the "Hezhou Taste" regional public brand, improve the catering industry chain, cultivate business entities, enrich consumption scenarios, and promote the deep integration of food, culture, tourism and commerce, which has become an important support for stimulating consumption, stabilizing employment, increasing income, and enhancing national unity.
It is understood that Linxia City’s “15th Five-Year Plan” has listed food brand cultivation, food standardization, and food gathering area construction as key tasks.
"The rose industry is connected to the farmers in the fields and to the people's dining tables." Chong Xiansheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Linxia Municipal Committee and deputy mayor, said that with the gradual opening up of processing, cold chain, quality control, and cooking, the local "beautiful resources" are continuing to be transformed into a delicious economy and an enriching economy.
