Boat Feast in Taihu Lake 太湖船宴

The boat feast in Taihu Lake is composed of Taihu boat dishes and Taihu boat snacks.

Originated from the Ming Dynasty, the boat feast in Taihu Lake is a featured feast in Wuxi, Jiangsu and came to the name as being placed for eating on the gaily-painted pleasure-boat in Taihu Lake.

For Taihu boat dishes, particular attention is paid to “original taste”, each dish is of original taste and flavor, and is particularly fresh, furthermore there is a characteristic that after eating the main dishes, the vegetables are particularly fresh and tender. Another characteristic for Taihu boat dishes is seasonal: in spring, stewed soft-shelled turtle in porcelain jar, pearls in palm, fried whitebait with scrambled eggs, steamed Taihu knifefish, and egg stew with Wenggong fish are available; in summer, drunk shrimp, fried mandarin fish and pine nuts with sweet and sour sauce and milk white crucian carp soup are available;in autumn, there are Liangxi Creek crispy eel, fried bean vermicelli with crab meat, fried field snail meat, white big crab, Taihu white shrimp and white fish with wine pickle and in winter, whitebait soup with three kinds of slices, fried shrimp meat, Taihu wonton and fresh lake food in chicken soup… the dishes are different in different seasons. Also, there are various Taihu boat snacks, red date & tremella and lotus seed soup, whitebait wonton etc.

Taihu boat snacks were originated no later than the Ming Dynasty and came to the name for serving as the snacks in Taihu Lake pleasure boats; by constant study and improvement made by masters of all generations, the various images including flowers, melons, birds and animals etc. have been brought into the boat snacks and finally the featured snacks that are small and exquisite, true to life, both appreciative and delicious have taken into shape.

The masters mix glutinous rice flour and Japonica rice powder according to a certain proportion, make performance in the boat by the skills such as kneading, holding between the fingers, picking, stabbing and wiping etc. , make snacks spontaneously and the little dough soon become a plate of small animals and melons in the dab hands. After steaming, the boat snacks are served on the table, both eyeable and delicious by setting off the landscape of lake and mountain reflecting in the glittering lake surface. According to information, the carved patterns, themes, style and size of Taihu boat snacks have particular meaning, very rich sculpts, true to life forms, and integrate delicate, edible and appreciative characteristics, so they are really a wonder of China.