The emergence of"Eating in Guangzhou":A depiction of folk cuisine among Pearl River Delta in the late Qing and early Republican period
LIU Chang
CHEN Zhonghe
Abstract：The phrase"Eating in Guangzhou"originated in the late Qing and early Republican era and subsequently became an important symbol and shared public memory of Cantonese(Guangfu)culture.Existing studies have largely focused on banquet descriptions among the gentry,with insufficient attention to the everyday diets of the urban middle class,common folk,and boat-dwelling residents.Using a cross-cultural comparative reading of texts,this paper juxtaposes the late-Qing Cantonese cookbook"Meiwei Qiuzhen",Guangdong local miscellanies,and contemporary foreign travelogues to sketch a plural and fluid picture of everyday popular eating in the late Qing Pearl River Delta.The study shows that,the ingredients and culinary techniques of everyday diets had already undergone fine-grained material differentiation,interwoven with stratified consumption and practice:the upper strata shaped a"refined palate,"the middle class acted as mediators of taste dissemination,the lower strata generated efficient grassroots techniques.Meanwhile,with advancing urbanization and marketization in the Pearl River Delta,the publicization of taste accelerated.Taking dim sum as an example,rituals of private familial hospitality were transformed into commodified offerings in teahouses and became standardized.Both the upward mobility of grassroots techniques and the incorporation of western ingredients and methods emerged.Thus,"Eating in Guangzhou"is not a static label but a continually generated and negotiated order of taste.Understanding its generative logic helps inform the protection and revitalization of the"living traditions"of Pearl River Delta foodways today.
Keywords：eating in GuangzhouCantonese(Guangfu)culturefood cultureliving heritage
Publication Date：2025-11-15
Pages：10( 14-23 )