Visitors to Deyang, Sichuan province, were impressed with the huge turnout at the city's usually quiet convention and exhibition center at the 7th World Sichuan Cuisine Conference held there on Thursday and Friday.

With the theme "Let the World Love Sichuan Cuisine", the conference organized by the World Federation of Chinese Catering Industry (WFCCI) was aimed at building an international development platform for Sichuan cuisine, highlighting the openness, integration, sharing and civilization of Sichuan cuisine, and promoting Deyang's city brand, said Li Yong, head of the Deyang municipal government information office.

Since its debut in 2018, the conference has been held exclusively in Sichuan seven times, drawing participants from more than 20 countries and regions.

It has become the vane of the development of the Sichuan cuisine industry, and also an influential brand event in China's catering industry with a market size of 5 trillion yuan ($687 billion).

With the increasing number of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, more and more expatriates are working, studying and living in Sichuan, and Sichuan cuisine has become an indispensable part of their lives.

Jongrak, an international student majoring in new energy vehicles at Sichuan Polytechnic University in Deyang, said he was most impressed by the Sichuan cuisine's double-cooked meat and mapo tofu.

"In our hometown, there are many Chinese, and we eat Chinese food during major celebrations such as weddings," said the 20-year-old who hails from a beautiful village in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Emily Scott, director of the Agricultural Trade Office of the US Embassy in China, has been in Beijing for a little over three months.

"During my limited travel within China, I'm already impressed by the varieties of cuisine styles in different regions in China, in particular, Sichuan cuisine," she said during the opening ceremony of the 7th World Sichuan Cuisine Conference on Thursday.

China has one of the world's most dynamic food and beverage consumer markets with endless possibilities. Among all cuisine styles, Sichuan cuisine is one of the most welcomed worldwide, and my favorite, she said.

With the tremendous work of WFCCI, Sichuan cuisine has become versatile and modern, providing opportunities for many food products.

Food connects people without boundaries. China continues to be one of the top markets for US agricultural exports and agriculture continues to be one of the most important bilateral relationships, she said.

In 2023, exports to China totaled over $31 billion with consumer-oriented products over $6 billion including beef, pork, poultry and over $1 billion trade in seafood.

Located on the fertile Chengdu Plain, Deyang is the birthplace of Li Tiaoyuan (1734-1803), a writer, poet and opera theorist whose food monograph "Xingyuan Lu" (Awakening Garden Record) is the earliest Sichuan cuisine recipe, boasting some of the best-known Sichuan dishes such as double-cooked meat and Zhongjiang hanging noodles.

A local specialty, the noodles made in Zhongjiang county in Deyang has a history that can be traced back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

These delicately thin noodles are as fine as strands of hair and possess a pristine white color and a hollow core.