Shanghai What to eat

Shanghai Cuisine

Shanghai cuisine was originated from Shanghai local peoples daily dish. It is relatively plain and inexpensive. It is mainly characterized of baking. It has the strong taste with much oil and sauce. Shanghai is the largest industrialized city in China. It is also one of the largest international trade ports all around the world. In the past 100 years, Shanghai was famous as world economic city for farmlands in Shanghai suburb used for planting vegetables. Thanks to Shanghais advanced transportation system its developed industry and prosperous business and trade.

Shanghai is located in Yangtze River Delta of China. Shanghai is a coastal metropolis with warm weather, dense rivers, and streams. The produces and products form other places of China diversify the materials of Shanghai cuisine. Due to the prosperity of economy, and the large amount of businessmen, the restaurants and hotels were emerged as the times required. There are more than sixteen types of cuisines appeared in Shanghai, that is, Beijing Cuisine, Jiangsu Cuisine, Yangzhou Cuisine, Guangzhou Cuisine, Wuxi Cuisine, Hangzhou Cuisine, Fujian Cuisine, Sichuan Cuisine, Anhui Cuisine, Chaozhou Cuisine, Hunan Cuisine and so on. These different cuisine styles mutually learned from one another and gradually offered the convenience to the formation and finalization of tasty and unique Shanghai cuisine. Afterwards, it also introduced the characteristics of Wuxi Cuisine and Suzhou Cuisine. It is greatly helpful to the diversification of Shanghai cuisine. The basic characteristics of Shanghai Cuisine are: sweetness and colorfulness. Meanwhile, the local cuisines also changed as the characteristics of Shanghai. Reforms and changes were available in Sichuan Cuisine and Wuxi Cuisine. Based on the long-term practice to learn from others strong points to offset one's weakness, cookers of Shanghai reformed the cooking measures and ways, and diversified the kinds of cuisine.

Nowadays, as the growth and extension of Sino-foreign cultural exchange, many western-style cuisines also take an effect to the optimization and improvement of Shanghai Cuisine. Just as the multi-culture of Shanghai, Shanghai cuisine is being changed and internationalized.