Festival serving up the flavors of Shaanxi

The Festival of Shaanxi Flavors was launched at China World Hotel, Beijing on March 30 to celebrate the popular regional cuisine that is jokingly dubbed "a major barrier to weight loss" on social media.

The festival, running from March 30 to April 16, is being hosted by the Shaanxi provincial government and organized by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Commerce, Shangri-La Group and Xi'an Catering.

Six Shangri-La hotels－China World Hotel, Beijing; China World Summit Wing, Beijing; Jen Beijing by Shangri-La; Kerry Hotel, Beijing; Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing and Shangri-La Hotel, Xi'an－are working with five time-honored Shaanxi restaurants, including Tongshengxiang, Defachang and Chunfasheng, to present more than 60 specialty dishes to delight the taste buds of guests.

The five Beijing hotels are serving an array of signature Shaanxi dishes during the festival, including calabash chicken, fish in white soup, sesame pork and lamb soup with pita bread.

Six Shaanxi-based master chefs skilled in traditional Shaanxi cooking methods, which are protected as intangible cultural heritage, have been invited to demonstrate their culinary skills in Beijing.

One of them is Ma Shunli from Defachang, who is an inheritor of the traditional Shaanxi methods of making dumplings.

Cheng Fubo, vice-governor of Shaanxi, said at the launch ceremony, "With the Shaanxi food festival, we hope to use Shaanxi cuisine as a medium to display the charm of Shaanxi culture and as a bridge to further deepen regional trade cooperation.

"Through a panoramic presentation of carefully prepared food by Shaanxi cuisine master chefs and leveraging the platform provided by Shangri-La hotels, more people will learn about and fall in love with the culture and flavors of Shaanxi."

Lim Beng Chee, CEO of Shangri-La Group, said at the launch ceremony that Shangri-La is "honored to be able to contribute to the promotion of Shaanxi food culture in Beijing".

"Our culinary teams will work with the Shaanxi cuisine master chefs to offer our guests a taste of authentic Shaanxi flavors with a five-star service experience," he said."We also look forward to more of these collaborative opportunities and hope that Shangri-La can continue to promote local food cultures and bring special gastronomic experiences to other parts of China, Asia and the world."

Stephan Kapek, general manager of China World Hotel, Beijing, said they are looking forward to bringing the unique flavors of Shaanxi to Beijing through the event, adding diners can experience Shaanxi signature dishes at the five hotels in Beijing.

Sun Hao, an actor and singer from Shaanxi, who was invited to attend the launch ceremony, expressed his passion for the food of his hometown.

"I don't even want to return to my hometown because the food there is so delicious that I get fat every time I go back," Sun said.

Yang Zhengguang, an author and screenwriter from Shaanxi, called for greater efforts to promote the main courses from Shaanxi.

"Most of the people from outside the province are only familiar with Shaanxi snacks. Promoting the main courses is necessary if we want the world to know Shaanxi cuisine in its most complete and authentic form," Yang noted.