In recent years, there have been more restaurants in Beijing with Shunde as the signature, indicating that Shunde's reputation as a gastronomic capital has spread farther and begun to go out of the Lingnan region and radiate to the north.
Shunde was awarded the title of "World Capital of Gastronomy" by UNESCO in 2014, and the subsequent documentary "Taste of Shunde" allowed Shunde cuisine to spread to the public's vision, not just in the Cantonese cuisine industry or a small number of people. It also makes Shunde people realize the meaning and value of cultural communication, while low-key Shunde people are disdainful of communication, a bit serious about doing things, muffled and rich feelings. However, wealth also has a function - to promote culture, and culture can feed back into society and form a continuous creative driving force.
Teacher Wu's sculpture "Bruce Lee" on the exhibition poster
I like to use Bruce Lee as an example, because Bruce Lee is also from Shunde, and Wing Chun is also derived from Shunde Jun'an. When the O'PLAZA shopping mall in Shunde was opened, Wu Gaozhong's work "Bruce Lee" was used as the opening sculpture, I wondered how to introduce this work and Bruce Lee, and finally my point of view was this: Bruce Lee did not open a boxing gym in the United States to teach boxing, but to engage in culture - making movies, movies were the most popular cultural way in the world at that time, including influence and dissemination, so spreading Chinese kung fu to the world through his own performances is bruce Lee's wisdom and the essence of Bruce Lee.
The culture of Shunde cuisine is so profound and broad, but there are few propagandists, of course, li jianming, Liao Xixiang and other cultural scholars have made a lot of contributions in recording, researching and promoting Shunde cuisine and Shunde culture.
Beijing's food is a bit like Guangdong's potted vegetables, everything, since the Ming Dynasty as the imperial capital of Beijing has gathered the taste of the north and south, exquisite or not and can not be discussed, the degree of richness is second to none. Although the concept of Shunde cuisine as a regional cuisine is relatively late in Beijing, it has always influenced Beijing since the Tan family, and not only in the civilian class, but Shunde cuisine is very close to the people in the cantonese cuisine.
Teacher Liao signed and donated the book
In Shunde in 2019, Mr. Liao Xixiang gave me a copy of his upcoming book manuscript to sample the first series of "Shunde Famous Chefs", which recorded a Shunde chef Mr. Kang Hui, who was born in the Republic of China, suffered a Japanese invasion of China when he was a teenager, his parents died, fled to Shanghai to learn cooking, learned Cantonese cuisine in the 40s, and was good at cooking "Braised Eight Treasures", "Qiyuan Stewed Water Fish", "Eight Treasure Lotus Yellow Chicken", "Hundred Flowers Crispy Duck" and other Famous Cantonese dishes. In 1955, he was selected to work in the Beijing Hotel, often participating in the preparation of state banquets, and after the completion of the Great Hall of the People, the state banquet venue was moved there, but the cooking task was still handled by the chefs of the Beijing Hotel.
In 1957, Chairman Mao invited Ho Chi Minh and Kang Hui to make dishes such as "tube chicken", "roast duck" and "walnut cheese" according to the dietary preferences of the two. In 1961, he was assigned to Zhongnanhai as a chef for Mao Zedong for a year. Because of his study at the Beijing Hotel, he mastered Hunan cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, and even Tanjia cuisine, and he was a master of integration. He has cooked for many leaders. In 1974, he became the head chef of Beijing Hotel.
In the 1980s, he went to France many times to exchange cooking skills, and the two dishes of "fried money beef fillet" and "red baked milk pigeon" were loved by their French counterparts, and the red baked milk pigeon used French wine according to local conditions, giving Shunde cuisine a French taste. Afterwards, Kang Hui was admitted as a "member of the French Celebrity Chefs Association". In 2002, he was awarded the title of "National Treasure Level Cooking Master" in Beijing.
Master Kang Hui (video screenshot)
Such Shunde cuisine is little known in Beijing, Master Kang Hui's experience is the honor of Shunde chefs, although everyone's experience can not be copied, there are opportunities of the times and personal creation and efforts, but it can be seen that "cooking out of Fengcheng" can jump out of the scope of "food in Guangzhou" definition, since Mr. Kang Hui can be in charge of the Beijing Hotel, can enter Zhongnanhai with cooking skills for Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Song Qingling and other leaders of New China, the choice of leaders can explain the cooking skills of Shunde cooks. The "kitchen out of Fengcheng" is nourished by the profound skills and long-standing cooking culture of Shunde cuisine, and Shunde cuisine and Shunde chefs constitute the inheritance and dissemination of Shunde taste.
And Shunde cuisine is not only in Beijing.
Shunfeng Mountain Park