According to the Red Meal Network, in order to promote Chinese food culture, promote the high-quality development of Henan cuisine, and enhance the brand influence of Henan cuisine at home and abroad, on March 25, the "High-quality Development of Henan Cuisine and the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of Ah Wu" was successfully held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Hundreds of catering industry leaders and professional scholars gathered in the Central Plains to talk about the carp culture of the Yellow River and explore the high-quality development of Henan cuisine.
The forum was supported by the World Federation of Chinese Cuisine Industry and the Zhengzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, co-sponsored by the China Cuisine Association, Zhengzhou Cultural Tourism and Sports Group Co., Ltd., Henan Catering and Accommodation Industry Association, and Zhengzhou Catering and Hotel Industry Association.
It is understood that the event includes a number of agendas such as "High-quality Development of Henan Cuisine and Yellow River Carp Culture Forum", "Henan Cuisine Tasting Banquet", "Millennium One Fish" New Book Release", "Above the Wave" Documentary Release, "Award Ceremony" and other agendas, aiming to promote Chinese food culture, create a business card of Henan cuisine culture, and further expand the influence of Henan cuisine.
01
Confrontation of views and collision of ideas!
Explore the high-quality development of new Yu cuisine
△ Yang Liu, President of the Chinese Cuisine Association
In his opening speech, Yang Liu, president of the China Cuisine Association, said that last year, the income of the national catering industry exceeded 5 trillion yuan for the first time, and the catering market performed "hot and hot", among which the "holiday economy" and "night economy" contributed to it, and at the same time, the catering highlighted the characteristics of "emotional value" and the development trend of digital intelligence. Among them, we have to mention the development of Henan cuisine, "a history of Henan, half of the history of China", Henan is the earliest cultural area with a long history in the development of catering, providing rich soil for the innovation and development of Henan cuisine, and giving birth to many brands of Henan cuisine.
△ Xing Ying, President of the World Federation of Chinese Cuisine Industry
Xing Ying, President of the World Federation of Chinese Cuisine Industry, highly affirmed the culture of Henan cuisine in her speech, and said that this forum is a measure to study and interpret the essence of the Yellow River food culture, promote the high-quality development of the catering industry in the Yellow River Basin, and also build a platform for international catering and cultural exchanges.
△Vice President of China Cuisine Association, Lifetime Honorary President of Zhengzhou Catering and Hotel Industry Association,
Fan Shengwu, founder of Ah Wu brand
Fan Shengwu, vice president of the China Cuisine Association, lifetime honorary president of Zhengzhou Catering and Hotel Industry Association, and founder of the Awu brand, delivered a keynote speech on "How to Develop New Yu Cuisine with High Quality", which not only elaborated on the history and development of Yu cuisine, but also gave a comprehensive interpretation of new Yu cuisine from five aspects: "new ingredients", "new techniques", "new presentation", "new experience" and "new mission".
Fan Shengwu said that if you want to promote the high-quality development of Xinyu cuisine, you can start from the following aspects: first, we should pay attention to brand building and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises; second, catering enterprises should focus on focusing, come up with their own "signature dishes", highlight their own characteristics, inherit the old ways, and innovate without departing from the tradition; third, while pursuing high quality, catering enterprises should pay attention to improving customer experience, and enterprises should build a community of destiny to create a new era of catering.
△ Wang Shouguo, a humanities scholar and former party secretary of the Henan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles
Wang Shouguo, a humanities scholar and former party secretary of the Henan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, gave a detailed introduction to the role of the Yellow River carp in food culture with the theme of "Chinese Food Culture from the Yellow River Carp". In addition, Wang Shouguo also described the current development of Henan cuisine with the inspirational story of "carp jumping over the dragon gate". He proposed that the carp jumping over the dragon gate needs to go forward and succeed, and even need the head fish to make sacrifices and foreshadowing, so as to have a successful moment of jumping over the dragon gate later. And the head fish "Ah Wu" leads the development of new Yu cuisine, which makes people full of expectations.
△ Li Cheng, head of Meituan's regional restaurant chain in Zhengzhou
At the forum, Li Cheng, head of Meituan's regional restaurant chain in Zhengzhou, released the "Yu Cuisine Development Report". The report pointed out that the number of Yu cuisine stores has increased significantly in the past decade, with the total number of Yu cuisine merchants in the country reaching 18,744 in 2023, and the total order volume of Yu cuisine in Henan Province in 2023 has increased by 24% year-on-year.
According to Meituan statistics, the top five in the search index of Yu cuisine are Yellow River carp, boiled fried chicken, red stewed mutton, peony swallow vegetables and scallion roasted sea cucumber, of which the Yellow River carp ranks first, exceeding the second place by 62%, which can be called the "traffic star" in Yu cuisine. Since the release of the Dianping must-eat list, Yu cuisine has been selected for seven consecutive years. Among them, brands such as Awu Yellow River Big Carp and City Wall Root have been selected five times.
Subsequently, at the 2024 Yellow River Basin (Nine Provinces) Carp Culture Forum, leaders of the catering industry in nine provinces, including Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong, gathered to conduct in-depth discussions on topics such as "Yellow River Civilization and Yellow River Basin Culture in Various Places", "Local Yellow River Carp and Food Culture", and "How to Promote the High-quality Development of the Local Catering Industry through the Promotion of Yellow River Carp Culture".
02
"A Thousand Years of Fish" and "Above the Wave" were released
Tell the new story of Yu cuisine
For Yu cuisine, carp is not only a classic dish, but also a spiritual totem.
Under the witness of hundreds of experts and entrepreneurs in the cultural and catering circles at home and abroad, a book about the Yellow River carp and Henan cuisine culture "One Fish in a Thousand Years" was officially released. This book is a comprehensive combing of the carp culture and Henan cuisine culture of the Yellow River. There is a microcosm of the changes in Yu cuisine in the book, and there is also a history of the struggle of a generation of catering people "Liyue Longmen".
It is reported that this is the first monograph in the history of Chinese catering to systematically elaborate on carp culture, which fills the gap of carp culture without systematic elaboration, and has far-reaching significance for the creation of carp culture system, the return of the Yellow River carp head brand and the revival of Henan cuisine.
Then, the documentary "On the Tide" was also officially unveiled. This is a documentary that records the 20-year development of Yu cuisine and Ah Wu, and it is also a magnificent development history of Yu cuisine.
The film uses a large number of precious historical video materials and took nearly a year to produce. From the perspective of Ah Wu, it tells the efforts made by a generation of catering people to promote the development of Yu cuisine. From it, you can see how a carp "grows" in the bones of Chinese, and you can also see the tenacity and inheritance behind the Henan culture represented by Yu cuisine, and you can see the perseverance and love of a group of catering people for culture.
Fan Shengwu, the founder of Ah Wu brand, shared the story behind the documentary on the spot. He said, "Ah Wu's original intention is to set up a business card for Henan cuisine and Henan catering. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Ah Wu's founding, we wanted to do something for Yu cuisine, so we had the documentary "On the Wave". Nowadays, there are more and more brands and diners of Yu cuisine, and the development trend of Yu cuisine is getting better and better. I hope to work together with catering peers to contribute to the high-quality development of the catering industry and Yu cuisine. ”
03
Top Masters in charge!
The Yu cuisine tasting banquet shows the elegance of the Yellow River cuisine
In the evening, the event ushered in a new round of climax in the "Yu Cuisine Tasting Banquet".
It is understood that the dishes of the banquet are cooked by a number of top Henan cuisine masters, including senior Chinese cooking master Du Xinjing, senior Chinese cooking master Li Baojun, senior Chinese cooking master Fan Shengwu, senior Chinese cooking master Li Zhishun, executive chef Wu Hongyuan of the Yellow River State Guest House, Zhao Yao, Tian Shaoqing of Awu Product R&D Center, etc., selecting Henan characteristic ingredients, integrating the skills of all directions, picking the strengths of hundreds of schools, cooking delicious dishes, and promoting the beauty of Chinese food.
Among the dishes of this dinner, there are not only the top dish of Henan, braised Yellow River carp, but also the "new Henan cuisine" based on the traditional Henan cuisine - caviar Bianjing roast duck, abalone meat ribbon bottom, puff pastry Hu spicy soup, etc. Many guests said that this tasting banquet subverted their perception of Yu cuisine and deepened their understanding of Central Plains culture.
In addition, the scale of the tasting reached a new high. A 36-meter-long table was designed at the tasting site, which can accommodate 80 people at the same time, which is the first time in Henan Province that such a scale tasting banquet is designed.
At the same time, the tasting will also integrate food and culture, adopt the design concept of the Yellow River in the table design, integrate the carp of the Yellow River and the landmark architectural elements of the nine provinces along the Yellow River, and present not only a taste feast, but also a cultural feast for the guests.
Brief summary:
In recent years, as the mass catering market continues to be popular, the position of local cuisine in the market has become more and more obvious. As the "mother of the eight major cuisines", Yu cuisine is also the head brand represented by Ah Wu, and it has ushered in a new stage of development driven by continuous inheritance and innovation.
The successful holding of the "High-quality Development of Henan Cuisine and the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of Awu" is not only a rallying cry for the new era of the development of Henan cuisine, but also a new starting point for promoting the development of carp culture, the inheritance and innovation of Chinese food culture, and the high-quality development of the rise of central China.
In the future, what kind of new surprises will Yucai and Awu brands bring to the industry?
Author: Red Meal Editorial Department