China / China

A matter of taste

(China Daily) Updated: 2014-03-23 09:52

Visiting foreign leaders are usually officially received at a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People or treated to a presidential "home dinner" at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

State banquets are prepared by some of the country's best chefs.

They need to consider not only food quality but also guests' religion, ethnicity, eating habits and, sometimes, health.

Chefs deliberate ingredients' health benefits, nutrition and seasonality.

Much of the porcelain tableware is specially produced by Jiangxi province's Jingdezhen, which is celebrated for fine porcelain.

State banquets usually feature dishes that represent the best of Chinese cuisine.

In October 1986, Deng Xiaoping treated Queen Elizabeth II to "Buddha jumps over the wall" soup. The famous Fujian specialty has more than a century of history and contains up to 20 kinds of seafood and poultry, simmered for hours or days.

Photo taken on Jan 12, 2014 shows the ingredients of a dish named Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian province. [Photo/Xinhua]

It's said former US presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan loved the soup.

Chinese leaders sometimes introduce their personal favorites at state banquets.

Deng is said to have adored cuttlefish-roe soup, a spicy and sour delicacy hailing from traditional Shandong cuisine. As a result, the warming soup became a regular fixture of state banquets.

It's commonplace for visiting leaders to try Peking roast duck, Beijing's premium culinary icon.

Many dine on duck at Quanjude, an eatery dating to 1864.

The walls of Quanjude's Hepingmen branch have many photos of visiting foreign leaders on the restaurant's second to fourth floors. Among them are former US president Richard Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger.