We went to Chaoshan and saw something other than beef hot pot.

When it comes to Chaoshan, what do you think of?

I think most people will think of delicious food.

20 12 Sanlian Life Weekly made a cover story about Chaoshan in Nostalgia, which made Chaoshan cuisine enter the mainstream vision of mass communication in China. After the broadcast of China on the Tip of the Tongue, more people learned about Chaoshan and local cuisine.

The cultural output of a city depends on communication first, and then on food.

Chaoshan beef hotpot has become a preacher to promote Chaoshan food culture. 20 15 more than 300 kinds of Chaoshan beef hotpot appeared on the streets of Shanghai overnight, and Sichuan hotpot no longer dominated. People line up to have a new place, but also go to hot pot restaurants to taste beef balls and beef with different scientific names in different parts. Send a circle of friends to punch in and discuss which beef balls are the best and which hot pot soup is the most authentic.

The peripheral extension of catering is packaged food. In the case that the domestic e-commerce industry is developed, express e-commerce helps Chaoshan cuisine to go north smoothly. Among them, chaoshan beef meatball Zi became the best representative.

A casual search for "beef balls" in Taobao will pop up hundreds of brands, and most beef balls should be attributed to "Chaoshan" (or Shantou or Chaozhou). Whether these beef balls are really "produced in Chaoshan" is impossible to verify here, but what is certain is that the combination of the two makes the food culture in Chaoshan more concrete when spreading.

Following the Matthew effect, more and more brands enter, hoping to increase their income in the name of "Chaoshan". As everyone knows, virtually they boosted the brand communication and popularity of Chaoshan.

This year's National Day, many media people reported the local specialties of Chaoshan, allowing countless mainlanders to plant grass. As a result, China people are not satisfied with tasting this kind of food in this city. Many people eat this Amway and choose to go to Chaoshan to experience a gourmet trip.

Among them are me and my friends. We first went to Shunde, another food capital in Guangdong, and then went to Chaoshan by train.

Fortunately, compared with the old gourmet tourist cities like Chengdu and Chongqing, Chaoshan is relatively unpopular and there are not many tourists. "There are not so many tourists from other provinces" makes us seem a little out of place when we speak Mandarin, but this does not prevent us from eating eight meals a day in Shantou.

How to summarize the dishes over there?

Probably the ingredients are fresh, delicious and not greasy, with Kung Fu tea, even if you eat a lot, there will be no burden. This is the best difference between Cantonese cuisine and other cuisines. By contrast, how much oil does my favorite Shanghai local dish, shredded eel, braised pork and scallion noodles, have?

(Friendly reminder, there is a high-definition codeless food map at the end of the article, please pull it down carefully. )

From the marketing point of view, the success of a brand must be more than just a positive label. For new users, when the brand can be personified, or more than a dozen related words can be described in 10 seconds, its brand image will be full in your mind, which also shows that it is a successful brand.

Chengdu is a successful brand:

Hot pot, roasted brain flower, string incense, spicy, giant panda, pretty girl, basin, Taikooli, Jinli Wuhou Temple, mahjong, earthquake. ...

Hangzhou is a successful brand;

West Lake, Leifeng Pagoda, Lingyin Temple, hangzhou dishes, West Lake vinegar fish, grandma's house, traffic jam, B&B, Alibaba, Netease …

Most people in China actually don't know Chaoshan. How many people always think that Chaoshan is a city?

If the Chaoshan area is regarded as a brand, it seems that it will take a little time. There are too few labels on the front, even if you are in Chaoshan, you will still feel this way.

Shantou is a city with nothing to see except eating. Taking a taxi from Chaoshan Station to the hotel, we were full of questions about this special economic zone along the way. Is this what a special economic zone should look like? The dilapidated infrastructure and mottled houses always make me feel that I have crossed into the Republic of China during the Anti-Japanese War.

If you are not really looking for food, you may be surprised when you look back.

Underdeveloped public transportation is very unfriendly to foreign tourists, and the infrastructure is not in place, which also raises the threshold for tourism development.

Those food bloggers should not tell you that the "food tour" in Chaoshan is more difficult than expected.

Compared with Shantou, Chaozhou culture is more complete.

Chaozhou's historical sites and traditional snack bars are mostly concentrated in the old city, especially in the area of Paifang Street, including typical ancient buildings such as Kaiyuan Temple and Yongji Bridge, which began in the Tang Dynasty. It is also a local food center: sweet juice, beef offal, sugar scallion cake, mung bean refreshing, sesame tea, old medicine orange …

We went to a teahouse called Ganting Teahouse to have a rest. This teahouse used to be an ancient building that can be browsed. While drinking tea, this venue is also a place for tourists to learn about Chaoshan culture.

Walking in the old city, your heart will naturally calm down and you will be less impetuous in the city. This is a valuable experience of this trip.

Compared with Shantou, Chaozhou is more flesh and blood. Shaping it into a cultural brand will have more potential, diverse labels and full image. It's just that these elements haven't spread yet

How to make city brands fuller?

It is said that Hilton will soon open in Chaozhou to make up for the shortage of good hotels in Chaozhou. Perfecting the infrastructure of the city and creating the characteristics of a certain block can enhance regional tourism to a certain extent. Let more people experience local culture. This is internal strength. Privately, what is more important is the output of brand concept.

20 15 Media person Mr. Li founded the Chaoshan cultural and creative activity brand "Tingchao" in Shanghai and held two large-scale activities, which caused quite a stir in the circle. In addition to better promoting Chaoshan (especially Chaozhou) culture in my hometown, it is also to link more Chaoshan people who are struggling to do business outside and seek more opportunities for cultural exchange and import and export for my hometown.

Help Chaoshan culture export and let more China people know Chaoshan.

As for the brand building of Chaoshan culture, Mr. Li believes that the food in Chaoshan culture is only a part, and handicrafts, dramas and local folk customs have not yet been excavated, which can be made into cultural and creative industries, otherwise these traditional cultures will not be upgraded and promoted, and non-Chaoshan people may not be so interested.

In contrast, food is the easiest body for Chaoshan brand to spread. At present, among many Chaoshan cuisines, only beef hotpot and beef balls really "go out". Express packaging products can help spread, but it is not enough. Although there are restaurants like Tang Chao and Jiafu in Shanghai, they are not universal. Chain snack bars are universal.

If Chaoshan beef kway teow can spread all over China like Guilin rice noodles one day, it may be an important step to establish Chaoshan cultural brand.

Finally, I couldn't help falling into a custom. I recommend the places where we punch cards in Shunde, Shantou and Chaozhou these days, or I recommend eating delicious food to feel more profound Cantonese cuisine different from local cuisine and Sichuan cuisine. Local cuisine is the cultural epitome of this place. May local culture and food coexist and never die:)

Rachel wrote it.

Typesetting: Ding Mao

Acknowledgement: "Listen to the tide"