With the continuous opening up of Sichuan, it is no longer difficult to purchase raw materials for Sichuan cuisine. After the opening of the China-Europe train, the needed spices can be transported from Sichuan to Europe in less than 20 days.
● Our province attaches great importance to the innovation and development of Sichuan cuisine, and has successively issued a number of policy documents to promote industrial development and continue to promote Sichuan cuisine culture. By 2022, more than 100 Sichuan cuisine enterprises have successfully gone abroad.
● Since 2019, the Provincial Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese has held a seminar for leaders of overseas Chinese food associations, which not only enables overseas Chinese food practitioners to experience the unique charm of Sichuan cuisine more deeply, but also builds a cultural exchange platform for Chinese food at home and abroad.
As a unique business card of Sichuan, Sichuan cuisine not only conquers many diners around the world with the tip of its tongue, but also enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad for its profound cultural heritage, and has become an important window for foreign people to understand Sichuan culture.
A few days ago, the 2023 "Family China Taste Sichuan" seminar for leaders of overseas Chinese food associations was held in Sichuan. More than 50 leaders of overseas Chinese food associations from 21 countries and regions participated in it. During the seminar, they also went to Guang ‘an to attend the 6th World Sichuan Food Conference, appreciate the charm of Sichuan food, explore the culture of Sichuan food, talk about the development of Sichuan food and sing "Let the world fall in love with Sichuan food" again.
What are the difficulties and challenges in the process of Sichuan cuisine going global and out of the "international model"? What is the future development trend? In this regard, the reporter interviewed Hu Xiaojun, the founder and chairman of the US-China Catering Federation, the chairman of the American Old Sichuan Catering Group, Wan Rong, the executive president of the Austrian Sichuan-Chongqing General Chamber of Commerce, and the relevant person in charge of the Provincial Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.
With the continuous opening up, it is no longer difficult to purchase ingredients.
Sichuan cuisine is famous for its unique spicy taste and rich cooking skills. If you want to make authentic Sichuan flavor in a foreign country, ingredients and seasonings are very important.
"It takes watercress and pepper to make boiled meat, and garlic sprouts to make cooked meat, but these materials were not available in Chicago at that time." In 1998, Hu Xiaojun opened a Sichuan restaurant in Chicago, USA-"Old Sichuan", and the purchase of ingredients and seasonings made him quite headache. In order to make authentic Sichuan flavor, Pixian watercress, Hanyuan pepper, Yibin sprouts … many seasonings he had to bring from China.
Nowadays, with the continuous opening up of Sichuan, it is no longer difficult to purchase raw materials for Sichuan cuisine. Hu Xiaojun said that at present, the Sichuan brand "Old Sichuan" has 16 branches in the United States, and the procurement of ingredients and seasonings is basically not a problem.
Convenient and developed transportation provides a basic guarantee for the overseas development of Sichuan cuisine. In this regard, Wan Rong has a deep understanding. In recent years, in addition to catering, Wan Rong has also set foot in the field of seasoning export. Speaking of the development of transportation, she said with emotion: "The cost of air transportation is high and there are many restrictions; Shipping is too slow, with a transportation cycle of more than 40 days. After the opening of the China-Europe train, the needed spices can be transported from Sichuan to Europe in less than 20 days. " Wan Rong and the team are planning how to bring authentic hot pot bottom materials to Germany, Austria and other countries, so that more local people can taste authentic Sichuan flavor.
Attach importance to the innovative development of Sichuan cuisine and continue to promote Sichuan cuisine culture.
"If taste is the root of Sichuan cuisine, then culture is the soul of Sichuan cuisine." When it comes to the development of Sichuan cuisine overseas, Hu Xiaojun feels that "the combination of roots and souls" is crucial.
"Many people’s inherent impression of Sichuan cuisine is spicy, but in fact, Sichuan cuisine is rich in flavor. When foreigners really taste and understand Sichuan cuisine, many people like it very much. " Wan Rong told reporters that in recent years, many food lovers around the world have favored Sichuan cuisine, but in the 1980 s and 1990 s, the acceptance of Sichuan cuisine in European and American countries was actually not high.
In this regard, Hu Xiaojun also has the same feeling. "Many people think that Sichuan cuisine is heavy in oil, salty and spicy, which is too different from western food culture." He laughed. "At that time, many people around me heard that I was going to open a Sichuan restaurant, and they all thought that this person was crazy." In order to let more people know about the rich history and culture behind Sichuan cuisine, Hu Xiaojun not only trains employees through bilingual menus to let them know the story and culture behind each dish, but also constantly promotes Sichuan cuisine culture by participating in local food festivals and giving lectures on Chinese food culture in colleges and universities. "When’ Old Sichuan’ first opened, most customers were Chinese, but now the proportion of foreign customers accounts for 80%." Hu Xiaojun said.
Relying on the international market, Sichuan cuisine has become an important bridge to show Chinese food culture. In recent years, our province attaches great importance to the innovation and development of Sichuan cuisine, and has successively issued a number of policy documents to promote industrial development and continue to promote Sichuan cuisine culture. According to the data published in the Sustainable Development Report of Sichuan Cuisine Industry 2022, as of 2022, more than 100 Sichuan Cuisine enterprises have successfully gone abroad.
Carry out exchanges and cooperation to comprehensively enhance the international influence of Sichuan cuisine.
Overseas Chinese food practitioners are an important force to promote Chinese culture, and Hu Xiaojun and Wan Rong agree that the biggest problem in the overseas development of Sichuan cuisine at present is talent training.
Influenced by the foreign labor visa policy and restricted by the foreign language level and salary of employees, it is a common problem for overseas Chinese restaurants to "go global". In order to solve this problem, in recent years, the Provincial Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese has actively done a good job of matchmaking, promoted exchanges and cooperation between Sichuan Tourism College and domestic catering associations, overseas Chinese food associations and Chinese restaurants, and organized Sichuan cuisine masters to teach local students overseas, so as to become Chinese chefs with local working status and localized language communication, and comprehensively enhance the international competitiveness and influence of Sichuan cuisine.
At the same time, since 2019, the Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese has held a seminar for leaders of overseas Chinese food associations, inviting leaders of overseas Chinese food associations from all over the world and overseas Chinese who work in Chinese restaurants to return to Sichuan to taste delicious food, enjoy beautiful scenery and make friends, which not only enables overseas Chinese food practitioners to experience the profound historical background and unique charm of Sichuan cuisine more deeply, but also builds a cultural exchange platform for Chinese food at home and abroad. Hu Xiaojun, who participated in the seminar for heads of overseas Chinese food associations for the third time, said: "The inheritance and innovation of Sichuan cuisine’s overseas development needs to be in line with domestic standards, not only in taste, but also in culture, so the opportunity for learning and the platform for communication are very important to us."
Wan Rong, who participated in the seminar for heads of overseas Chinese food associations and the World Sichuan Cuisine Conference for the first time, gained a lot: "In recent years, the baton of overseas Sichuan cuisine has been passed to the second generation of overseas Chinese, or even the third generation of overseas Chinese. Young people have brought many innovations to Sichuan cuisine culture, but at the same time, there is also a problem of not knowing much about traditional Sichuan cuisine culture." She hopes that relevant departments can hold more similar activities to enhance people’s understanding of Chinese restaurants and promote overseas Chinese restaurants to continuously enrich the characteristics of the times and cultural connotations. (Reporter Tian Shan)