Tianjin: A Melting Pot of Cultures

The Five-Avenue Area is a popular location for wedding photos.

After foreign residents left the city, their houses were inhabited by various dignitaries, including the royal families of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) who had been evicted from the Forbidden City, senior officials of the Beiyang Government (1912-1928), business tycoons and distinguished personages. Historical buildings, and the people who lived in them, all help to write the legend of the city.

Tianjin Cuisine

Tianjin cuisine has a lot of fans. There is everything from elegant fine dining to delicious street snacks.

Thanks to its location on Bohai Bay, Tianjin has abundant seafood. As opposed to the more delicate way of cooking fish in southern China, seafood in Tianjin is usually served in big bowls and huge dishes, which reflects the city’s characteristic openness and lack of pretension.

Merging food from different regions with local flavors, Tianjin cuisine has developed into a multi-regional food culture. Tianjin food has a distinctive salty and fresh flavour, the product of Shandong-style cooking, a major culinary influence. The main cooking methods of Huaiyang Cuisine have also been incorporated; so much of Tianjin’s food is braised or stewed. With easy access to the Grand Canal, linking northern and southern China, Tianjin was able to enjoy some of the specialties of southern China. Things like dried beancurd sticks, dried bamboo, ham, and various southern seasonings are common sights on Tianjin dining tables.

The importance of snacks in Tianjin cuisine should never be ignored. Steamed stuffed buns (baozi) are common all over the country, but Tianjin’s Goubuli, the most famous brand of baozi, turns it into a gourmet meal. Fried dough twists, another well-known local snack, are said to derive from a fried snack made by the Hui ethnic group, called sanzi. In the past, large numbers of Hui people settled along the banks of the Grand Canal and brought sanzi to Tianjin. Locals added more ingredients to the recipe and changed the cooking method, transforming sanzi into popular fried dough twists. Pancakes rolled with spring onions have long been a favourite amongst people in Shandong Province. In Tianjin, the pancake is made of mung bean flour and rolled with egg, scallions, and fermented bean sauce. The pancake can also be sliced and served with salty toppings and a slightly spicy sauce. This snack is called guobacai.

Almost every kind of traditional food can be found on the Nanshi Food Street, which is among the city’s top 10 attractions. In addition to numerous restaurants serving traditional Tianjin dishes and snacks, you can also find the famous Eight Cuisines of China, encompassing the food of Shandong, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Guangdong, Hunan, and Jiangsu. Whether you are looking for imperial cuisine, simple home cooking, halal food, vegetarian food, or even Western-style food, Nanshi Food Street has it all. Food streets like this can also be found on Liaoning Road in Heping District and in October Food Street of Hebei District.

(Compiled by China Today)