1.Meat Swallow
Rouyan, also known as Taiping Yan, is a famous specialty snack in Fuzhou. It is mainly made of lean meat and Yanpi. Its appearance is similar to the common Wonton, but its taste is quite different, with unique toughness. This snack is handmade through intricate and complex processes, with a round head and scattered tail shape resembling a flying swallow, a jade like color, and a smooth and refreshing taste. The Yanpi of the bird’s nest is as thin as white paper. It is white, smooth and delicate. It gives off an attractive meat smell. It tastes very refreshing and soft.
2.Fuzhou Fish Ball
Fuzhou fish balls are a traditional delicacy in Fuzhou, deeply loved by the locals. There is a saying that goes, ‘Without fish balls, there can be no feast.’. This snack is mainly made from fish meat, with the outer skin made from eel or mackerel meat, and has high nutritional value. The filling is pork, with a white appearance, elastic texture, and a smooth, tender, and refreshing taste. Whether it’s stewing soup or cooking hotpot, they are both very delicious. The production process includes using chopped shark, eel, or freshwater fish, mixing with potato flour to make the outer skin, and then wrapping it with pork lean meat or shrimp filling. It is smooth and crisp to eat, and the soup is fragrant and not greasy.
3.Buddha jumps over the wall
Buddha jumps over the wall is the chief famous dish in Fuzhou, with a history of hundreds of years. This dish gathers more than 20 precious ingredients, such as shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, etc. After slow simmering over low heat, the soup is delicious, the meat flavor is rich, and the nutritional value is extremely high. The cooking process is very rigorous, ensuring that every bite is the ultimate delicacy. In addition, Buddha jumps over the wall also has the nickname of “Man Tan Xiang” and “Fu Shou Quan”, which is an excellent choice for autumn and winter.
4.Dingbian paste
Dingbian paste is a unique snack in Fuzhou and one of the top ten snacks in southern Fujian, deeply loved by local residents. It is usually eaten with oyster cake, shrimp cake, taro rice, deep-fried dough sticks, fried buns, etc. It is a daily breakfast delicacy for Fuzhou people. The production of Ding Bian paste mainly uses clam juice as the soup base, and through specific cooking techniques, makes the soup clear, smooth, and refreshing. Common ingredients include celery, scallions, shrimp skin, mushrooms, etc., which make the Ding Bian paste delicious, soft, tender, and fragrant. In Fuzhou, almost every household makes Ding Bian paste, and its snack stalls can be seen everywhere on the streets and alleys.
5.Taiji taro paste
Taiji taro paste is a traditional delicacy in Fuzhou, mainly made from betel nut taro as the main raw material, added with sugar and lard. This dessert tastes sweet, delicate, smooth and delicious, giving people a sense of happiness. In Fuzhou, it is not only a must-have dish for festivals and celebrations, but also one of the favorite desserts of old Fuzhou people. Although it looks like a cold dish on the surface, it actually burns the mouth when consumed, making it unique among Fuzhou snacks due to its distinctive taste.
6.Oyster cakes
Oyster cake is a traditional snack in Fuzhou, known for its crispy and sweet taste and unique production process. It is mainly made of rice and soybean flour, wrapped with oyster meat, lean pork, and celery filling, and then fried until golden brown. This snack has a circular shape, a golden color, a crispy outer shell, and a solid and sweet filling inside. In Fuzhou, oyster cake is not only a regular customer of breakfast, but also a side dish of Congee. Its unique taste and texture have made it popular in the Fuzhou area for hundreds of years without fading.
7.Lychee Meat
Litchi meat is a traditional famous dish in Fuzhou with a history of over 200 years. This dish uses lean pork as the raw material, and the meat is cut into a cross shape before making. After deep frying, the pork naturally curls and resembles lychee in shape, with a taste similar to lychee and a sweet and sour taste. Putian is known as the “Licheng” due to its abundant production of lychees. The lychee meat in its local snacks is made by cutting lean meat into lychee sized pieces, carving them into shells with a knife, and mixing them with various braised sauces until they taste delicious. When served, it is decorated with fresh lychees, making it mouth watering.
8.Fuzhou Sand Tea Noodles
Fuzhou Shacha Noodles is a traditional delicacy in Fuzhou, mainly made from noodles and Shacha sauce. It has a rich and spicy taste, which can stimulate appetite. Among them, the most famous one is “San Fang Qi Xiang Sha Cha Mian”. Sand tea sauce is the key to making sand tea noodles. It is usually made by marinating and grinding high-quality shrimp heads, and then mixing them with garlic sauce, five spice powder, curry powder, chili powder, sesame seeds, etc. This sauce gives Shacha noodles its unique spicy taste.
9.Guangbing
Guangbing is a traditional specialty snack in Fuzhou, originating from the mid to late Ming Dynasty and created to reward Qi Jiguang’s army. This snack has a diameter of about 6cm, the size of a palm, with small holes at both ends, and is baked with flour and a little salt. The light pancake has a golden color and tastes crispy and delicious. The more you chew it, the more fragrant it becomes. Small stalls selling flatbread can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys of Fuzhou. In addition to salty pancakes, there are also large ones made into sweet ones called “Zhengdong pancakes”. This snack is not only popular in Fuzhou, but also sold in Nanping City, Ningde City and other places in Fujian Province.
10.Thousand page cake
Qianye Cake is a famous local specialty pastry in Fuzhou, known for its oily, residue free, non stick, and sweet taste. This type of pastry is made from raw materials such as pork and flour. The pork is made from fatty meat, which is cooked and mixed with white sugar. It is then rolled and wrapped layer by layer with flour, usually 8 to 12 layers. Finally, steam it in a steamer. It tastes sweet and soft, and melts in the mouth. It is often served as a dessert at banquets. The thousand page cake of Antai Tower has been rated as one of the “Top Ten Famous Snacks in Fuzhou”, demonstrating its important position in Fuzhou’s snack culture.