A City of Crayfish - Xuyi in Huai’an 龙虾之城,淮安盱眙

“Midnight food stalls with crayfish and beer” is a typical summer experience in most cities in China. In late spring and early summer, as the wind at night brings the slightly warm air in the summer, Huai’an, especially Xuyi, a city of crayfish, becomes lively and “prosperous” all of a sudden and eaters all over China can’t wait to come here and enjoy the food. The atmosphere is lit up by one of cuisines not to be missed in China-crayfish, a midnight delicacy that every visitor to China should give a try.

 

In the 1960’s, people in Xuyi, Huai’an, began to catch crayfish in the fields for cooking. They found that crayfishes cooked can easily absorb the flavor of the seasoning well. With rich soup, firm and elastic meat, its taste is comparable to that of Chinese mitten crab. What’s more, the price of crayfishes is much lower than that of Chinese mitten crab and one can spend much less to get perfect satisfaction from the gourmet food.

 

In the 1980’s, China’s economy witnessed a rapid development and “midnight snacks” became popular. In summer when crayfishes are harvested, the “stove” cities of China are still shrouded in the night heat. People would take a walk on the streets and spend the slow summer nights in the open-air restaurant “food stalls” eating heavy-tasting food with cold beer. Therefore, crayfishes become prevailing in the midnight snacks. According to the statistics in 2016, the number of crayfish franchise stores opened in summer is three times higher than that of KFC in China.

 

In Xuyi, Huai’an, a small town where the trend of eating crayfish originated from, crayfish culture took root here and became a must-have experience for tourists. Every year, many tourists will visit and taste the crayfish here. Since 2000, “Xuyi Crayfish Festival” has been held in early June every year, making it a high-profile tourism and food festival in China during the summer days.

 

On the opening day of the “Xuyi Crayfish Festival” in Xuyi, Huai’an, famous Chinese artists will be invited to gather together for this spectacular audio-visual feast. Apart from the opening ceremony, “Ten Thousand People Crayfish Banquet” is also a highlight of “Crayfish Festival”. When bowls of crayfishes of different flavors are served on the table, the red crayfishes are overflowed with the flavor of spices, making the tourists coveted. They cannot wait to grab some hot crayfishes, take off the heads and shells, and glut themselves with delicacies without caring about whether their mouths and hands are full of soup. People will find them unable to stop the tasting of multiple flavors of Chinese spices and seasonings. At first, they may wonder why the crayfishes in Xuyi are served in such a large basin and without notice, they will eat to the bottom of the basin and still want more.

 

The grand “Xuyi Crayfish Festival” held at early June is an event that gourmets cannot miss if they pay a visit to Jiangsu during the summer. After feasting your eyes with the beautiful scenery in Huai’an, you must feast your stomach with the delicious crayfish in all flavors to make the trip truly worthwhile.