Food Guide in Xiamen

For many who come to Xiamen for the first time and for those who never venture into Xiamen’s corner streets, it is unlikely that they will be familiar with the folksy good things that are happening in Xiamen alleyways. As a famous city surrounded by mountains, farmlands, fishing, seaport and culture, Xiamen has a time-honoured history of producing some of these special snacks, which also contain rich historical and Minnan cultural connotations.



Xiamen, as one subsidiary of Min (or Fujian) Food, has managed to combine the flavors of other foods like Taiwan, Chaozhou and Shantou foods due to historical and geographic reasons as well as exchange with the outside world. Discovering delicious Xiamen local food can enrich your traveling. Here we list the most authentic snacks in Xiamen:

Snacks in Xiamen should not be missed during your trip as they are great in variety and reasonably priced. Xiamen snacks have distinct flavors and some of them are listed below:

Tu Sun Dong is made from a sea product called 'Xing Chong' and is eaten with the seasonings including sauce, vinegar, chili, catsup, mustard and garlic. It is now becoming one of the most important cold dishes in any banquets.



Peanut Soup, one of the Xiamen famous deserts, is simply made from peanuts but with very complicated production process. It has a sugary flavor and is best eaten with some dim sum dishes such as deep-fried twisted dough sticks, steamed stuffed buns and similar. Many believe the best Peanut Soup is served at Huangzehe Restaurant in Zhongshang Road, Xiamen, a famous snacks store in Xiamen.



Spring Roll is a fried rolled pancake filled with slices of various vegetables, meats and seafood. The local people of Xiamen like to have Spring Rolls as traditional snacks during festivals.

Porridges are widely accepted in Xiamen, especially porridges made of fresh seafood like crabs and shrimps. The location of Xiamen on the southeast coast of China provides it with abundant sea products. Dating from the Qing Dynasty, the seafood locally is always a traditional delicacy make from fresh local fish, prawns, crabs and more, with the flavor depending on the various seasonings.



Take the crab rice porridge as an example, cooked by fresh crab and glutinous rice, the rice is cooked with crab soup till is soft enough, then add crab meat, ginger and celery etc, eat it when it's still hot, it's really delicious. Dip some shacha sauce, garlic sauce, pepper sauce etc on the porridges before you eating, the unbelievable taste will certainly worth the shot. Other snacks like Xiamen Glutinous Rice Wrap, Chinese chives bun, ihong cake etc also serve as feast for visitors’ tongues.

Xiamen cuisine is the main representative of Fujian cuisine which is famous throughout China. Besides Xiamen dishes, food of other parts of the country also can be found here, making Xiamen a good destination for gastronomes. Being fresh, light, crispy and slightly spicy in taste, snacks in Xiamen appeals to more and more food lovers to taste the flavor of Xiamen.