Qufu What to eat

Kongfu Banquet

The Kongfu Banquet (Confucian Mansion Banquet) is a high-level banquet that was originally served whenever distinguished guests came to visit the Residence of Confucius or during the birthday or wedding celebrations of dignitaries. Retaining all the essential elements of northern Chinese dishes, it is a most important component of Shandong cuisine.

The banquet can be sub-divided into two classes. The first class is served only to emperors and their special envoys. A complete banquet of this type is composed of 404 utensils and 196 courses. The dishes involved included such rarities as camel's hooves, bear's paws, shark's fins and swallow's nest, and would take ten people altogether four days to finish all. The second class is served to common travelers on ordinary days.

Kongfu banquet is characterized by such cooking techniques as frying, braising and steaming. Famous courses available now include Shengxian duck, sea cucumber and Yipin bean curd and Confucius red pork stew.