Chaozhou cuisine is a distinctive culinary style in Southern China. It features fresh ingredients from the sea and mountains and blends local and foreign cooking methods. It is a primary branch of Cantonese cuisine, one of the four major cuisines in China.

Seafood is essential in Chaozhou cuisine, as do seasonings, cooking skills and fresh flavors. Typical local meals share some common ground. First, while seafood takes up a large proportion of a wide selection of ingredients, at least one vegetable dish is included. Second, the chefs put in effort to deliver the original, seasonal tastes. To do this, they choose the ingredients and garnishes carefully, cut them into perfect shapes and cook them at the proper time. Cooking techniques come in various options: stewing, braising, pan-frying, deep-frying, steaming, stir-frying, baking, marinating, simmering, scalding, pouring, blanching, braising in master sauce, smoking, boiling and roasting. Among them, stir-frying, scalding and pouring are particularly famous. Third, condiments work together for a flavorful balance. A variety of condiments are placed on the table for diners with diverse palates and to accentuate the intrinsic deliciousness of the food. Shacha sauce and kumquat oil are the most distinctive local dips.  

A wide variety of dishes represent Chaozhou cuisine. Braised goose, mustard greens with mushrooms, Protect the Country (vegetable and mushroom soup), beef stir-fried with Chinese kale, charcoal-roasted conch and chestnut mashed taro are some examples of traditional fare. Other classic dishes include braised shark fins, crystal lobster balls, Han River and Blossoms (a dish of various vegetables and melons), boiled turban shells, butterfly-shaped platter, abalones with chrysanthemum, assorted ingredients in wax gourd soup, Carp Jumping over the Dragon Gate (fried carp), red-braised sea cucumbers, Golden Turtle Incubating Eggs (braised turtle with garnishes), bird’s nest soup with lotus seeds, Autumn Chrysanthemum in Garden, stewed soup of shark fins and Chinese silk chicken, hasma soup with bamboo shoots, baked animal pizzles with ginkgoes, eels with orange sauce, bird’s nest soup with crab, Auspicious Fish for the New Millennium (braised mandarinfish) and Hidden Treasures in Bamboo Forest.

While Guangzhou is a city for gourmets, Chaozhou is a city of lingering flavors. Thanks to the promotion of the locals, Chaozhou cuisine has been renowned as an important Southern China culinary style nationally and globally.