~Hi~

~Guys!

What kind of food do you think could be regarded as the darkness food in your mind?
I read through cookery books and tried to find darkness food at different places. Whether it is the British "Stargazy pie", or the Nordic "Kivilak" (Legend of the pickled sea Swallow), or the Surstromming that has been popular in recent years. However, for those darkness foods, I haven't eaten them before because I just couldn’t take enough courage to try.

Rather than looking for those darkness dishes that are unacceptable whether in materials or manufacturing methods , it is better to look at the special "Darkness dishes" that we have in our Wenzhou!

When it comes to the raw fish, do you think of the sashimi of "salmon" or the raw fish in Shunde, Guangdong? However, the so-called raw fish in Wenzhou is another kind of special food, which is a Marinated fish and is transliterated as "Bai Dasheng" in Wenzhou dialect. It was one of the five flavors of Wenzhou's famous food shop-Wuweihe in the past few years, which lay emphasis on "salty" and is listed as the traditional trump card product.

 

It's surprised that the sashimi-sized small octopus is marinated with glutinous rice, red grains and radish and it is a whole bottle of red raw things at first sight.

At the end of 1999, Wuweihe received a special gift from Taiwan. A famous poem written by Mr. Ma Xingye, a famous Taiwanese journalist origined in Pingyang, said: "The worship of the ancestral hometown is long, and the geese are rich in earth. Dear tears, I want to try the raw fish but I couldn’t.” (Mr. Nan Huaijin thanked the hometown for the food). It turned out that a Hong Kong friend would use the Longquan celadon jar to give Hong Kong's Wuweihe raw fish as a present to Nan Huaijin and he gave the canned fish to his fellow villager Ma Xingye. And the raw fish evoked the homesickness.

"Flower clam" also called “Blood clam”by other area's friends, which got its name with the "bloody" feeling at that moment as it was peeled off. Wenzhou people like to use boiling water to cook for a few seconds and then directly to eat.

This is a very common dish in the eyes of Wenzhou people. However, it's definitely a darkness cuisine for people from other areas.

When the flower clam get peeled off the shell, you can see its blood-like secretions. Probably, it's not easy for you to stop eating once you taste them by dipping in soy sauce. Finally, it will ends up with a foodie opening his fierce-looking mouth and burping to you with satisfaction and two bleeding hands, which is just like a crime scene.

It's not rare to eat seafood in coastal cities, but it's not every city has such a diet custom of eating raw food and it's probably worth counting- Wenzhou people has the habit of eating pickled-raw crab.

River raw crab is a traditional cold dish in Wenzhou. Generally, we use the best swimming crab. After finely decomposing, it is slightly marinated and then topped with vinegar, soy sauce, yellow wine, white sugar and pepper. Gently suck in your mouth and the crab meat will slide out of the crab shell. It’s extremely wonderful and tastes without any nasty smell!

Shrimp sauce, is commonly called by Wenzhou people as shrimp paste, or shrimp. The scientific name is Cyclops, a small animal belonging to the crustacean net in the "animal plankton" in the sea, which is living in the shallow sea along the coast. In addition to fresh food, the most common is the shrimp dipping sauce, which is made by salt and a little red dough for more than five months.

Shrimp sauce is not only delicious but also full of aroma. Shrimp steamed three-layered meat, dried shrimp and dried sweet potato powder, dried shrimp and oyster sauce, sea bream, shrimp dipping sauce, steamed dish, shrimp dipping sauce and mustard greens are all very classical way to eat for Wenzhou people.  

My friends, now is the highlight! Next, I will introduce you as a speical darkness food: Stinky vegetable. It smells really bad and it can be on par with Shaoxing stinky tofu and Ningbo stinky melon.

 

The stinky vegetable, Wenzhou people call it "the head of vege", which is made from radish and it has a subtle smell. I only remember that when we had steaming vegetables at home, there was always an unusual smell in the yard. But when you eat it, you will totally forget the smell because of its deliciousness.

Are you still okay after you saw these very darkness cuisine in Wenzhou?

Do you have any favorite restaurants that you want to share with us? Which restaurant do you feel really good but don't know how they are, do you guys want me to try them? Please tell us in the leaving  message if there is a chance, I will become a food pioneer to explore the road for you all!

Translated by Tiffany Li