How Did Fujian's Congee Come to Dominate the Culinary World?
In the steaming bowl of congee, the soft and glutinous rice grains are distinct, with verdant vegetable leaves, pink oysters, curved dried shrimps, and fine shreds of meat swaying enticingly in the "Huaqing Pool." A layer of scallion oil floats on the surface of the rice broth. Taking a sip on a damp and cold winter day, the wildness of the mountains and the freshness of the sea are captured in one mouthful, spreading between the lips and teeth, making the whole body feel relaxed and comforted.
In the childhood memories of every Fujian child, there is a bowl of vegetable congee cooked by their grandmother (Wa Ma).
Homestyle vegetable congee, a bowl of care cooked by Fujian grandmothers.
Although it is called "vegetable congee," it is not lacking in meat or seafood. The vegetables can be mustard greens, celery, or pickled vegetables, varying slightly from household to household, with richness or simplicity tailored to individual preferences. Finely chopped garlic and mushroom dices may seem trivial, but they were the secret to enhancing flavor in the era before MSG.
The "Fuzhou County Annals" from the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty states, "In Fujian, the second day of the second lunar month is celebrated as the Spring Outing Festival, where wild vegetables are gathered to make congee (臛, hāo)." This "臛" refers to a congee cooked with meat and vegetables.
No matter which style it is, have a bowl first!
Illustration by @I’m Just a Map Drawer
Just like the vegetable congee, which has a plain name but contains a world of flavors, Fujian’s various congee varieties hide the code of the "mutual understanding" between the mountains and the sea of the Eight Min region. They embody the gustatory adventures of the indigenous people who ventured to Southeast Asia and the Hakka immigrants who paved the way with hardship, steaming with the nostalgic sentiments of the splendid landscapes and local customs of China.
Among the three major congee styles in China, Fujian congee claims one.
As is well known, Cantonese people are famous for their congee-making skills, where "simmering" is a time-catalyzed technique to achieve a sticky, soup-like consistency. Northerners often add baking soda to the congee to make it smooth and thick, a method known as "boiling." Fujian-style congee, however, differs from both. It aims for a黏连 (sticky) texture while keeping the broth and rice grains distinct, truly embodying the art of "cooking."
No matter how many possibilities it can hold, I want them all.
Fujian people cook congee using different varieties of rice, such as japonica, glutinous, or indica, complemented by various ingredients to create countless combinations, twisting out一个个 (one after another) taste魔方 (flavor cubes) for us.
"Two harvests from tidal fields are unmatched under heaven" is a praise for Fujian’s excellent rice varieties from the Song Dynasty’s "Sanshan Zhi." Fujian rice can be harvested twice a year, being drought-resistant and early-ripening. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Jianghuai region suffered from drought, grain had to be transported from Fujian.
The middle school Chinese textbook piece "Golden Rice Sheaves,"
writes about the Fujian rice from the hometown of poet Zheng Min.
Fujian is mountainous, with the saying "eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland" describing its geographical overview. The total land area of Fujian is 121,400 square kilometers, with mountains and hills accounting for over 80%. Under such unfavorable conditions of more mountains and less farmland, the ancient and wise Min people introduced drought-resistant rice varieties from Champa (modern-day Vietnam) and cultivated them on terraced fields.
"Half an acre of square pond opens like a mirror, where sky light and cloud shadows linger together." Zhu Xi, a Neo-Confucian scholar of the Song Dynasty born in Youxi County, Fujian, recalled the terraced fields of his childhood hometown with deep affection in his poetry. Fujian has the most diverse types of terraced fields in China. The millennia-old Lianyun Terraces in Zhu Xi’s hometown of Youxi are a dreamlike painting crafted jointly by heaven and earth.
Only after seeing the Youxi Terraces can one understand the phrase "made by heaven and shaped by earth."
Coincidentally, the history of Fujian people drinking congee experienced an explosion after the practices of "building ladders in the clouds" and "introducing fine rice from the south." Lin Hong, a Southern Song food "blogger," recorded several "internet-famous" congee recipes of the time in his "Shanjia Qinggong," most of which were from Fujian.
For example, one recipe called "Plum Blossom Congee" describes gathering fallen plum blossoms, washing them, cooking white congee with snow water, and adding the plum blossoms just before it is done. More than 400 years later, Lin Hong’s admirer, Gao Lian of the Ming Dynasty, also reprinted this Quanzhou, Fujian congee recipe in his "Eight Treatises on Nurturing Life."
Plum blossoms brave the snow in winter, while plum congee warms the stomach.
Today, plum congee has been passed down for nearly a millennium. It is a health-preserving porridge with both medicinal and edible values, known for benefits such as soothing the throat, relieving coughs, and nourishing the stomach and spleen.
If Quanzhou’s plum congee is the hermit among porridges, then the rubus congee from Nanping is the aristocrat. It was endorsed by Zhao Kunfu, a royal clansman of the Song Dynasty.
One day, while visiting a monk friend on Lingjiu Mountain, he was invited to stay for lunch and found the congee exceptionally fragrant. Upon asking, he learned that rubus flowers (Rosa rubus) had been added. The flowers were blanched in licorice soup to remove their astringency, then cooked with the congee just before it was done, allowing the floral aroma to blend into this bowl of vegetarian porridge.
Shanghang’s hibiscus oatmeal congee also incorporates flowers into the porridge.
The rubus flower has a short blooming period, making this congee a "seasonal limited" dish of that era. The Song poet Wei Zongwu wrote, "When the rubus blooms, the flower season ends," lamenting the fleeting opportunity. If you miss rubus congee this year, you’ll have to wait until next year.
Fujian congee also appears in middle school Chinese textbooks. Bing Xin’s "Laba Congee" is a mouth-watering piece that can make readers hungry late at night. Bing Xin, a native of Changle, Fujian, described Laba congee requiring 18 types of dried fruits, whereas the common version uses only eight. This highlights the Fujianese obsession with richly ingredient-packed congee.
Cooking a pot of Laba congee in winter brings sweetness to the mouth and warmth to the heart.
In the Fuzhou region, there is a local specialty porridge similar to Laba congee called "Aojiu Congee."
Every year on the 29th day of the first lunar month, Fuzhou locals prepare a large pot of congee with glutinous rice, brown sugar, peanuts, longan, lotus seeds, red dates, and other ingredients to show respect for the elderly. This day is also known as "Aojiu Festival," a unique elderly-respecting celebration in Fuzhou.
"Aojiu" is the Fuzhou dialect pronunciation of "Houjiu," which refers to the 29th day of the first lunar month. In ancient times, daughters in Fuzhou would prepare this congee for their parents on this day, so "Aojiu Congee" is also called "Filial Piety Congee."
"Aojiu Congee" is rich in filial devotion, embodying the warmth of winter sunset.
Those "Fu" (Fujian) Congees Hindered by Their Names
Although Fujian congee is incredibly inclusive and diverse, a poorly chosen name can scare away diners.
"Kitten Congee" paired with fresh orange becomes a "little orange cat" in the bowl.
Photo/TPGimages, Image/HuiTu
"Kitten Congee" is a specialty snack in Zhao’an County, Fujian. The name might sound alarming, but it contains no cat meat.
Legend has it that during the Southern Song Dynasty, the anti-Yuan minister Lu Xiufu and the young Emperor Zhao Bing sought refuge along the southern Fujian coast. Local fishermen shared with them the congee originally meant for cats. After the emperor and his minister perished at sea, the imperial chef returned to southern Fujian and spread the recipe for "Kitten Congee."
This congee is made with pre-steamed glutinous rice cooked in pork bone broth alongside fresh shrimp, squid, and sliced meat. Once the rice absorbs the flavors, it is quickly removed from the pot. Then, diced mushrooms, fish slices, shredded chicken, and other raw ingredients are added and boiled over high heat. It is served garnished with fried garlic and cilantro, offering chewy rice grains and a refreshingly savory broth.
Residential buildings in Jinmen County, Quanzhou, are characterized by their "swallow-tail and horse-back" roof ridges.
In Quanzhou's Jinmen County, surrounded by sea on all sides, restaurants along the street all display signs for "Cantonese Porridge," leaving tourists puzzled.
Out of curiosity, one orders a bowl and is served a "thick soup." The broth resembles jade marrow, the vegetables are like emerald, the pork liver is tender and smooth, and the fish balls are springy and chewy. The moment it slides down the throat, it feels as if the stomach has transformed into an ancient house on the island, welcoming the sea breeze from Southeast Asia.
With a sip of Jinmen's "Cantonese Porridge," the rice melts away, and so does the heart.
Photo/mikelucky
The most distinctive feature of "Cantonese Porridge" is that it is cooked until the rice is no longer visible, with the essence of amylopectin fully dispersed into the broth. It is a "molecular cuisine" created by early immigrants who returned from Southeast Asia and localized Cantonese dishes.
During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, large numbers of people from Fujian and Guangdong ventured to Southeast Asia to make a living, and the people of Jinmen joined this wave of "overseas migration." They worked hard and put down roots in Southeast Asia, blending their hometown culinary traditions. A bowl of "Cantonese Porridge" encapsulates the history of Fujian and Guangdong people striving in a foreign land.
The seemingly ordinary "vegetable porridge" holds profound significance within the bowl.
The "Fuzhou Prefecture Records" from the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty state: "On the 29th day of the first lunar month, vegetable porridge is cooked." Any porridge that earns a mention in ancient texts must be anything but ordinary.
The "first-generation" vegetable porridge uses japonica rice, vegetables, and diced mushrooms with dried shrimp as a base, presenting a mix of green and white, refreshing and savory. Later, glutinous rice was adopted to increase viscosity. The "Web 2.0" era version of vegetable porridge features even richer ingredients, adding celery bits, minced garlic, scallion oil, oysters, shredded meat, and more to the original base.
The Hakka tulou in Fujian also resembles a giant porridge bowl embracing the world.
Vegetable porridge belongs to Hakka cuisine. After the An Lushan Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, immigrants from the Luoyang area moved to southern Fujian. These Heluo people, far from their homeland, adapted the Central Plains vegetable porridge to local tastes by adding seafood from Fujian, creating the unique Fujian-style vegetable porridge of today.
The "Hezhi Porridge" from western Fujian最早 originated from the "Jizhi Ji" by Song Qi, a close friend of Ouyang Xiu. "Hezhi" means river god.
The dried scallop and deep-sea fish slice porridge from Longyan in western Fujian.
Song Qi wrote in his book that this porridge originated from a legend where the Wuyi Mountain God ate the dried fish offerings meant for the River God, sparking a "kitchen battle." On the home turf of the Wuyi Mountain God, "Hezhi Porridge" became "mountain porridge."
Coincidentally, Lin Hong, a gourmet from the Southern Song Dynasty and a later descendant of Song Qi, recorded in "Shanjia Qinggong" that a similar tradition of making porridge with dried fish existed on Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang.
Zhangzhou's ginger-shredded fish slice porridge offers a "just right" tenderness.
It turns out that after the Yongjia Rebellion of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Hakka ancestors, who migrated south during the "Clothing Crown Southward Crossing," settled along the Wuyi Mountains in western Fujian, "following the mountains to dwell." During their arduous pioneering efforts, culinary customs from Jiangsu and Zhejiang also integrated into the local culture, leading to the aforementioned coincidence.
A bowl of porridge, condensed with hometown nostalgia from the blessed land.
Fujian's porridge hides a bond between the mountains and the sea, encapsulating the richness of nature. It can be refreshingly elegant or down-to-earth, much like Fujian's diverse and multifaceted culture. Fujian porridge is like a grand garden where countless beauties compete in brilliance.
The Hakka porridge from Ninghua, Sanming, showcases perfect mastery in every grain.
In Fuzhou, there is longan congee cooked with longan berries and rice, known as "one longan, one spoon of congee"; "Zhenjun congee" cooked with apricots; and nourishing "duck congee".
In Quanzhou, there is bean congee praised by Song dynasty poets as "far surpassing cloud-like rice with a snow-white spoon"; as well as taro salted congee described by Su Shi as "fragrant as ambergris and richly white".
Zhangzhou claypot congee is as renowned as Cantonese claypot congee; Xiamen's "Aotou Dried Oyster Congee" rivals Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in its luxurious ingredients.
In Longyan of western Fujian, duck congee is so packed with meat that the rice is weighed down.
Mingxi County's "Wenzhuang Tribute Rice Congee" once received praise from Emperor Qianlong; southern Fujian's "sweet potato congee" and "minced pork congee" are beloved local delicacies.
From the ocean to high mountains, from cloud-covered peaks to terraced fields, from literary gatherings to rural leisure—in Fujian, you can always find a congee to suit your taste.
For the Hakka people carrying millennia of Central Plains culture, and for those who ventured to Southeast Asia hearing the ocean's call, a bowl of congee becomes a vessel for their enduring nostalgia. Fujian embraces wanderers from north and south, with mountains and seas whispering the familiar flavors of home.
The salted congee that Lin Shiyin cooked for Li Xunhuan
Made countless childhood friends drool with envy.
Image: TV drama "The Legend of Dagger Li"
Image Editors | Bing Lingdu, Wang Jiale
Map Editor | @I'm Just a Cartographer
Header Image | Visual China Group
Featured Image | Visual China Group