Shunde tour of cuisine
A group of Portuguese and Mecanese professionals took part in a “Shunde Tour” on March 9and 10, 2024 to immerse themselves in Chinese culture and cuisine in the Greater Bay Area.
Shunde, a place known for its rich cuisine, is located in the city of Foshan in Guangdong Province, about a 1.5-hour bus ride from Macau. The trip is part of the International Elite Exchange Program initiated by the Macau Pioneer International Cultural Communication Center Ltd.
Right after arriving in Shunde, the group couldn’t wait to try the food at Shunde Private Cuisine, a restaurant with a clean and serene environment, high walls, blue bricks, old colors and exquisite dishes that bring a steady stream of diners to this restaurant every day. The signature pepper chicken is a combination of Sichuan flavors, with the aroma of the peppercorns and the original taste of the chicken complementing each other in a unique way.
In the afternoon, the group visited the Bruce Lee Paradise, a park commemorating Bruce Lee, a world-famous movie star who introduced Chinese kung fu and popularised it around the world. It has been established that his family originally came from Shunde. In his films, he not only introduced kung fu but also Chinese culture and philosophy, which earned him the affection of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The Bruce Lee Paradise is home to the world’s largest phoenix sculpture and a bronze statue of Bruce Lee. The tour participants took plenty of photos with the statue and then visited the Bruce Lee Memorial Hall together.
For dinner the group had the Shunde specialty “thousand-layer boneless fish”. The whole fish is boned, cut into small pieces and placed in the top of the congee pot, served with a ginger sauce. The fish meat is fresh and tender. The bones of the fish are also made into a fried slice with salt and pepper flavor, which is crispy and delicious.
The next day, the group visited the Bijiang Jinlou Ancient Architectural Complex, where the exquisite wood carvings plastered with gold and the rustic Lingnan garden tell unique historical stories and show the deep traditional cultural connotations.
We used to think that sashimi was a Japanese cuisine, but Shunde yusheng (raw fish) has a long history and is considered a “living fossil” of Chinese food culture. In fact, the consumption of raw fish, referred to as “yukuai” in ancient records, has a long tradition in China and was continued in the mulberry fish ponds in the Pearl River Delta. Grass carp is one of the common fish species used for “yusheng”. It is reared, cleaned and processed in a complicated way. After being cut into very thin slices, it is served with various sauces and ingredients.
Of course, the well-known local specialty “double skin milk” (Chinese: 雙皮奶) was also on the menu. It is a dessert made from milk, egg white and sugar. After the milk has been boiled, the first layer of the skin forms while cooling; the second layer forms as the pudding cools.
The tour was also a process of cultural mingling. People from different cultures communicated with each other in Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Portuguese. They learned each other’s languages and customs, which not only helped the non-Chinese speaking members to better understand Chinese culture, but also gave everyone who participated in the tour a wonderful memory.
By Liu Boya
