Kimchi, jokingly known as the "artifact that goes with rice", is an indispensable food accompaniment to family dinners or banquets. "Look at Sichuan for Chinese pickles, and look at Meishan for Sichuan pickles." Meishan is the hometown of Su Dongpo and is also known as the "Hometown of Chinese Pickles". Its market share accounts for one-third of the country's total.
"Dongpo Pickles". Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
Not only a "magic tool for eating"
He is also the “hero behind the scenes” of Sichuan cuisine.
Kimchi is known as the "bone of Sichuan cuisine" and is a delicacy that is popular among all Sichuan people. It can be used as a side dish to accompany rice and is the "behind-the-scenes hero" of various delicious Sichuan dishes.
"Dongpo Kimchi" raw materials. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
In Sichuan, almost every household makes kimchi. Green vegetables, eggplant roots, and even fruits can be put into the kimchi jar. It can be said that "everything can be pickled." Sichuan people divide kimchi into "rice dishes" and "condiments" according to their uses. "Served with rice" such as soaked cowpeas, soaked lotus white, soaked radish, etc., can not only be the protagonist of a stir-fry dish, but also become a companion for rice noodles, noodles, steamed buns, porridge, etc.
"Dongpo Pickles". Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
Whenever Sichuan people fish out a bunch of "green slivers" from the kimchi jar, they are probably making a dish of rotten meat and cowpeas. The "unbound" cowpeas are cut into uniformly sized particles, and the sour and sesame juice flowing out is poured into the pot. The fat and thin rotten meat dumplings and soaked cowpeas complement each other well, creating a home-cooked dish that is convenient and goes well with meals.
"Condiments" such as pickled peppers, pickled garlic, pickled sauerkraut, etc. are used for cooking and seasoning, and are the strongest assists that many Sichuan dishes cannot do without. Fish-flavored shredded pork, chicken offal with pickled peppers, fish with pickled vegetables...all are inseparable from the presence of pickled vegetables. There is no fish in the fish-flavored shredded pork, so where does the "fish flavor" come from? In fact, pickled pepper is one of the protagonists of "fish flavor" seasoning.
Fish-flavored shredded pork. Photo courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism
Nowadays, kimchi has long since transcended its attribute of "going with meals" and has been integrated into Sichuan cuisine's "one dish, one dish, one hundred flavors", "fresh, pure, spicy, spicy and fragrant", and has become an intangible cultural heritage of Sichuan Province.
"Dongpo Pickles" has been passed down for thousands of years
From ordinary people’s homes to the market
Kimchi has been recorded as early as in ancient books and documents such as "The Book of Songs", "Shang Shu·Xin", "Shuowen Jie Zi" and so on. The earliest known record of the practice of Sichuan kimchi is "Qi Min Yao Shu", which has a history of more than 1,500 years. .
"Dongpo Pickles". Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
Meishan, located in the southwest of the Chengdu Plain, is the hometown of Su Dongpo and is known both at home and abroad as the "City of Poetry" and "Hometown of Sichuan Kitchen". For thousands of years, Meishan people's custom of being good at reading, good at cooking, and enjoying delicious food has been passed down from generation to generation, accumulating "the taste of Dongpo for thousands of years, and the fragrance of the world".
Recumbent statue of Dongpo among lotus flowers. Photo by Huang Zheng
According to records, Su Dongpo has a story about "three white rice": "a bowl of white rice, a dish of white salt, and a bowl of white radish", among which salted radish is the prototype of kimchi. In memory of Su Dongpo, Meishan kimchi is also called "Dongpo kimchi".
Kimchi on display at the Kimchi Expo. Photo by Zhu Huan
With the changes of the times, "Dongpo Kimchi" gradually moved from ordinary people's homes to the market, and a side dish on one's own dining table gradually innovated and became popular. In the 1980s, Meishan kimchi moved from private production to factory production, and a number of kimchi companies developed rapidly. In 2001, the salting pool kimchi technology was widely promoted, solving bottlenecks such as simple technology and insufficient production capacity. The development of "Dongpo kimchi" entered a new era, and the products were sold all over the country.
Leverage the development of tens of billions of industries
Big industries emerge from side dishes
In recent years, Meishan has been deeply involved in the kimchi industry, establishing a standardization mechanism for kimchi production from the source, promoting the local kimchi industry to achieve large-scale and brand development, allowing a small dish to go out of Sichuan, go overseas, and be on the dining tables of more consumers. Grow into a tens of billions industry.
"Selecting, cleaning, pickling, fermentation, processing, and packaging, a jar of kimchi has to go through multiple processes before it reaches the table. Only by controlling factors such as temperature and humidity can the aroma of kimchi be brewed." In Meishan's "Chinese Kimchi City", Talking about the skills of making homemade kimchi, Yu Qing, assistant to the general manager of Sichuan Laotanzi Food Co., Ltd., said, "Our making skills have been passed down through four generations and are provincial intangible cultural heritage."
Large-scale production of kimchi industry. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
"Chinese Pickle City" is the Meishan Pickle Industrial Park. "This park is the country's first, largest, most comprehensive, and most up-to-date kimchi industrial park." Wang Zhidan, deputy director of Dongpo District, Meishan City, said that local vegetables are deeply processed here into kimchi, prepared dishes, seasonings, etc. The added value of various products has increased significantly; the industrial chain has also been continuously extended, covering production, transportation, packaging, e-commerce, tourism, catering, scientific research, etc., gathering more than 30 upstream and downstream companies in kimchi processing, and processing more than 1.5 million tons of kimchi annually. , providing 25,000 jobs, eventually turning kimchi from a small craft into a big industry.
Jixiangju "Hero Beef Sauce". Photo by Liu Zhongjun
From being crowned the “Hometown of Chinese Kimchi” in 2006 to becoming the permanent venue of the “China Kimchi Exhibition” in 2014, the reputation and reputation of Meishan’s “Dongpo Kimchi” has continued to increase, and it has also gone abroad and is exported to the United States, Britain and Japan. More than 100 countries and regions including South Korea. In particular, the local company "Jixiangju" has cooperated with Walt Disney of the United States and jointly launched a series of 12 international products such as "Marvel and Mickey Minnie Beef Sauce", which are very popular among domestic and foreign consumers.
Large-scale production of kimchi industry. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
According to statistics, in 2022, the sales revenue of the "Dongpo Kimchi" industry will exceed 22 billion yuan, with a market share accounting for one-third of the country and one-half of Sichuan's, creating an industrial development of "Chinese pickles look to Sichuan, Sichuan pickles look to Meishan" pattern. Today, "Dongpo Kimchi" is striving to build a 100-billion-dollar industry.
Kimchi promotes cultural and tourism integration
Help rural revitalization
Specialty food is the cultural calling card of a city. The small town of Meishan is leveraging "Dongpo Pickles" to promote the integration of culture and tourism and help revitalize the countryside.
"Chinese Pickle City" scenic spot. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
The "China Kimchi City" mentioned earlier is not only an industrial park, but also the only 4A-level tourist attraction in the country for the kimchi industry. It features kimchi culture and integrates cultural experience, science education, and sightseeing. The kimchi museum, kimchi style street, and industrial tourism loop of characteristic enterprise production lines will further extend the kimchi industry chain.
Chinese Kimchi Museum. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
What kind of kimchi is the best? How to cook kimchi? Which dishes use kimchi seasoning? In the "Chinese Kimchi City", tourists like to ask about the specialties of kimchi. "After hearing about kimchi, some tourists can't wait to go to the company to visit and experience it," said Duan Yunxiang, manager of a kimchi Fengqing Street store.
For the development of the kimchi industry, the supply of raw materials is crucial. Along with the development of "Dongpo Pickles", Meishan is also vigorously developing the vegetable industry and taking the road of order agriculture to help revitalize the countryside.
China Kimchi City is a 10,000-acre green vegetable base. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
Dadingqiao Village in Dongpo District is very close to the "Chinese Kimchi City" and is a well-known "Kimchi Village". From growing wheat, rice, and rapeseed in the past, to now every household grows kimchi raw materials and develops "rice-vegetable rotation". Dadingqiao Village has signed cooperation agreements with many kimchi companies to supply vegetables for a long time, which not only gives kimchi companies Stable raw materials also help farmers increase production and income.
"The village provides about 5,000 tons of vegetables to many companies every year, and this alone can generate nearly 3.5 million yuan in revenue." He Xiaoying, secretary of the Party branch of Dadingqiao Village, said that the income of farmers in the village from growing kimchi raw materials for one season is equivalent to the previous one. annual income.
Villagers are working in the 10,000-acre green vegetable base of China Kimchi City. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
When He Xiaoying used to work in Guangzhou, she always kept a jar of kimchi at hand. “I can’t live without the lingering taste of my hometown.” In 2013, He Xiaoying returned to the village and contracted 120 acres of land to grow kimchi raw materials. She also led the village through building an e-commerce platform. "Network" development. She said, "The vegetables grown on my own land are on the tables of people all over the world. I feel proud just thinking about it."
"Dongpo Pickles". Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Dongpo District Committee of Meishan City
Today, driven by the "Dongpo Pickle" industry, Meishan has developed a total of more than 400,000 acres of vegetable raw material bases, driving nearly 200,000 farmers to increase their income, and rural revitalization is constantly advancing.
Author: Yao Xinyu Zhuhuan Wang Peng