Fujian cuisine was a latecomer in southeast China along the coast. It emphasizes seafood and river fishes. The Fujian coastal area produces 167 varieties of fish and 90 kinds of turtles and shellfish. It also produces edible bird's nest, cuttlefish, and sturgeon. These special products are widely used in Fujian diehes. Economy and culture of Fujian Province began to flourish after the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, Fujian cuisine gradually became famous in China.

The most characteristic aspect of Fujian cuisine is that the dishes are served in soup. The cooking methods are stewing, boiling, braising, quick-boiling, and steaming. Cutting is another important skill in Fujian cuisine. Most dishes are made of seafood, and if they are not cut in a right way, the dishes will fail to display their true flavor. Fujian dishes are slightly sweet and sour, and less salty. When a dish is less salty, it tastes more delicious. Sweetness makes a dish tastier, while sourness helps remove the seafood smell. In the Fujian cuisine, an important flavoring and coloring material is red distiller's grain. It made of rice fermented with red yeast. After being kept in a sealed vessel for a year, the grain acquires a sweet and sour flavor and a rose-red color. Chicken, duck, fish, and pork can be flavored with the red grain as well as spiral shells, clams, mussels, bamboo shoots, and even vegetables. As many Fujian people have emigrated overseas, their cuisine has become popular in abroad.

Hot Fujian Dishes
Buddha Jumping over the Wall
The dish mainly engaged in 28 ingredients, including abalone, sea cucumber, fin, fish stomach, ham, mushroom and so on. Bring to the jug, add Shaoxing Wine, and then seal the jug with mud. Simmer for 10 hours around and serve. As the description in a Chinese ancient poem, 'while opening the lid of the jug, the delectable smell spreads to the Buddhists, who give up praying and jumping over the wall for the delicacy', hence the dish got the name.

Fried Xi Shi's Tongue
It is made from the locally produced mussel. According to legend, the concubine Xi Shi of the king of Wu state was thrown in the sea tied to a huge stone by the wife of Gou Jian, the king of Yue who destroyed Wu, to prevent her husband being seduced by her beauty. In the area of the sea where she sank, a special breed of mussel appeared and this was said to be Xi Shi's tongue.