How many steps are there to eat authentic Sichuan food abroad？

With the rapid expansion of the world, the problems in ingredients, talents, management and other aspects of Sichuan cuisine have become increasingly prominent.

The ingredients, cooking, hygiene, service and management must meet international standards, so as to establish a good market image of Sichuan cuisine.

Explore the establishment of an international talent training base for Sichuan cuisine, and encourage and support Sichuan cuisine chefs to work in overseas Sichuan cuisine shops.

Promote the "going out" of Sichuan raw materials, encourage Sichuan raw materials enterprises to benchmark international standards and improve product quality.

On May 13th, the 3rd Boao International Food Culture Forum was held in Hainan Boao Forum for Asia International Conference Center. As a representative of Sichuan cuisine chefs, Sichuan intangible cultural heritage — — Wang Qinrui, the third generation inheritor of the traditional production skills of husband and wife lung slices, stood on the podium and introduced the charm of Sichuan cuisine to representatives from all over the world. On May 16th, Chengdu Panda Asian Food Festival will open, which will build a bridge between Sichuan and the whole world with food.

In recent years, there are more and more international exchange activities of Sichuan cuisine, and its influence is growing. However, with the rapid expansion of Sichuan cuisine in the world, problems in ingredients, talents, management and other aspects have become increasingly prominent. There are still many problems to be solved in order to truly undertake the heavy responsibility of overseas cultural communication.

□ Our reporter Cheng Wenwen

Lack of standard

"Sichuan cuisine" is famous far and wide, but "Sichuan cuisine restaurant" is not worthy of the name.

Sichuan cuisine continues to exert its strength in "going out". After Chengdu was recognized as the "gourmet capital" by UNESCO, Sichuan cuisine became the first China cuisine recognized and promoted by UNESCO, and official working institutions were established in cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles — — Sichuan cuisine overseas promotion center.

Sichuan cuisine enterprises are also constantly expanding their territory. Nearly 50 Sichuan food enterprises, such as Chengdu Yingxiang, Haidilao and Laofang, have opened "branches" overseas and opened nearly 100 food and beverage outlets in more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Britain, Malaysia and Thailand. According to the statistics of the World Federation of Chinese Cuisine Industry, the market scale created by 200,000 overseas Sichuan restaurants has reached 250 billion US dollars. "Even foreigners have started to open Sichuan restaurants in their own countries." Zhang Li, executive secretary of Chengdu Cuisine Association, said.

However, "with the increasing popularity of Sichuan cuisine overseas, many other types of restaurants are also playing ‘ Sichuan cuisine ’ The signboard, every store has dishes such as kung pao chicken and Mapo Tofu, but it is not the practice of Sichuan cuisine at all, which has caused many overseas diners to misunderstand Sichuan cuisine. "

What is even more worrying is that with the increasing number of restaurants, the competition is becoming more and more fierce. In order to reduce costs, some restaurants in the name of "Sichuan cuisine" cut corners on the selection of materials, the employment of chefs and even food safety, which are not conducive to the long-term development of Sichuan cuisine overseas. "The key is to establish a set of standardized standards." Zhang Li said that the ingredients, cooking, hygiene, service and management should be standardized in order to establish a good market image of Sichuan cuisine.

At present, a number of standards and specifications in our province, such as "China Sichuan Cuisine Technology Specification" and "Chuandian Processing Technology", have been approved by the Ministry of Commerce as domestic trade industry standards, but there is still a big gap in overseas markets.

Lack of talents

Foreign chefs can’t do it, and those who can do it can’t get out.

What impressed Zhang Li was that in 2016, he went to San Francisco to attend the Chengdu Food and Culture Festival, and found that the chefs employed by some local "Sichuan restaurants" were actually Vietnamese, Mexicans and even Hungarians. "What they did was actually not Sichuan cuisine."

Zhang Li said that Sichuan cuisine pays attention to "one dish, one grid, one hundred dishes and one hundred flavors", and the production seems simple, but the kung fu is a little less than home, and the taste transferred is a thousand miles away. It is difficult to train a qualified Sichuan cuisine chef without a few years of hard work. However, at present, there are relatively few overseas professional training and consulting institutions for Sichuan cuisine, and the number of international talents can’t keep up with the increase of restaurants.

On the other hand, it is also difficult for experienced Sichuan chefs in China to "go out". It is difficult to obtain a long-term work visa due to the influence of overseas immigration labor policy. Even if you leave the country, the salary payment methods and consumption habits abroad are different from those in China, so it is difficult for chefs to adapt. In addition, many Sichuan cuisine chefs lack foreign language proficiency and cultural foundation, and daily communication is also a problem.

In order to solve the talent problem, the "Three-year Action Plan for Sichuan Province to Promote Sichuan Cuisine Going Abroad (2018-2020)" issued by the General Office of the provincial government emphasizes that it is necessary to explore the establishment of an international talent training base for Sichuan cuisine, relying on overseas key catering enterprises and Chinese chambers of commerce to establish overseas Sichuan cuisine training and exchange centers. Within the scope permitted by the policy, encourage and support Sichuan cuisine chefs to work in overseas Sichuan cuisine shops, and support Sichuan cuisine talents to carry out domestic and foreign technical exchanges, cultural inheritance and teaching research.

Industry organizations at home and abroad have taken active actions. In April, Hu Xiaojun, Chairman of the American Chinese Food Association, and his party signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Chengdu Cuisine Association in Chengdu. The two sides will rely on the American Chinese Food Association to promote Sichuan cuisine exchange and chef training overseas.

Lack of ingredients

When eating authentic Sichuan cuisine, raw materials should also keep up with the trend.

Guo Pingyi is a Chengdu student studying in Australia. Although there is a Sichuan restaurant not far from where he lives, he seldom goes in because it tastes wrong.

Why does it taste wrong? In addition to the lack of chefs, another key is the wrong materials.

Yu De, vice president of Chengdu Cuisine Association, is a Sichuan cuisine chef who has been working for more than 40 years. He was once sent to work in a Chinese restaurant in new york. In order to let diners eat authentic Sichuan cuisine, he carefully cooked a pot of soup. Unexpectedly, not only did the delicious taste of the soup not come out, but all the bones in the pot turned black.

"The ingredients are frozen and not fresh." Yu De said. Sichuan cuisine is delicious, which is inseparable from Sichuan’s rich fresh ingredients. However, foreign Sichuan restaurants purchase ingredients locally, and most of them are frozen goods. The use of ingredients from Sichuan is not only costly, but also faces the problem of trade access. Some important ingredients can’t be found locally, so they can only be replaced by other things. "For example, bean paste is replaced by hot sauce from China, Taiwan Province and South Korea, and the taste is certainly wrong."

In recent years, our province has vigorously promoted the "going out" of Sichuan raw materials, encouraged Sichuan raw materials enterprises to benchmark international standards, improved product quality and increased market share.

This coincides with the ideas of many Sichuan food raw materials enterprises. "We have set up an international trade department to take charge of overseas trade." The relevant person in charge of Sichuan Juancheng Pixian Douban Co., Ltd. told the reporter that the bean paste and meat-free Sichuan seasoning packets produced by the company are sold to more than 80 countries and regions such as the United States, the Netherlands, Australia and Lithuania, with an annual sales of 13 million yuan. "In recent years, dealers in the United States and Europe have taken the initiative to come to the door. The products are not only popular in Sichuan restaurants, but also go into supermarkets and sell to ordinary families abroad."

News broadcast

Let’s explore Sichuan together

This newspaper(Reporter Cheng Wenwen) On May 13th, Sichuan Daily and Sichuan Daily observed and created the first audio and video program of food — — "Looking for Sichuan" was officially launched on the observation client of Sichuan Daily to chat with you about Sichuan cuisine.

Just as the Chengdu Panda Asian Food Festival is about to open, "Exploring Sichuan" cooperated with the Sichuan Local Records Office to launch 10 special programs on the history of Sichuan cuisine. Of all the Sichuan dishes, which one is the favorite of diners? From the ugly duckling to the white swan, what kind of counterattack has the hot pot experienced? Du Fu, Lu You and Su Dongpo, what wonderful articles praised Sichuan cuisine have been left by scholars in history? In the special program, you will find the answer.