Efforts underway to develop Datong's food culture

A forum that gathered officials, experts, gourmets, and restaurant owners to explore new ways of promoting the delicacies and tourism of Shanxi province's Datong city concluded on Jan 25.

The city last year made considerable efforts to develop itself into a "city of gastronomy", voting for the most popular local snacks, dishes and restaurants, along with filming videos on the history of food, eating and cooking in Datong, and launching a gourmet gala in September.

A number of thought leaders have been invited to visit local restaurants and use live streaming to promote their dishes since Jan 12, reaching 43 million hits on Yizhibo, one of the biggest live-streaming platforms in China.

Zeng Bowei, an expert with the World Tourism Cities Federation, points out that Datong needs to identity its trademark dish.

"When we talk about Anhui cuisine, the dish chouguiyu (or pungent mandarin fish) will come to people's minds; for Sichuan cuisine, mapo tofu; for Beijing, roast duck," he says. "Why can't we give a name of a representative dish when we are talking about Datong?"