I think China's culinary culture is vast and profound, and every city has a different food culture and unique cuisine. However, if I have to choose a city that is a culinary desert in my mind, it is Urumqi, my birthplace.
Located in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi is a multi-ethnic city and the political, economic and cultural center of Xinjiang. However, despite its many culinary cultures, Urumqi is, in my opinion, a culinary desert city.
First of all, the food culture of Urumqi is relatively homogeneous, with roast meat, pasta and dairy products as the main products. Roasted meat is one of the local specialties, but the taste is different compared to other regions due to different breeding and processing methods. Noodles are mainly ramen and noodles, which are delicious but of a single type and varying quality. As for dairy products, milk tea and yogurt are the main ones, but the taste is not as good as it should be due to insufficiently fine production techniques.
Secondly, the restaurant industry in Urumqi is lagging behind, making it difficult to find high-quality restaurants and food recommendations. Many local restaurants are not well trained and managed, resulting in dishes that are heavy, greasy, with high concentrations of MSG, and lacking in innovation and personalization, making it impossible for people to enjoy real food.
Lastly, the eating habits in Urumqi are rather old-fashioned and backward, and are not accustomed to some novel cuisines. For example, I once tried a tasty pickled fish in a restaurant, but many locals didn't like the taste, thinking it was too sour and spicy, and were used to the local barbecue and noodle dishes because Urumqi's eating habits are relatively old and backward, and they are not accustomed to some novel cuisines, which makes the local catering industry lack of innovativeness and personalization. As a result, it is difficult to find novel and unique cuisines and high-quality restaurants.
Of course, I'm not saying that Urumqi is completely devoid of good food. For example, there is a local delicacy called "lamb's foot tendon", which is made from the tendon in the lamb and is very tasty with a tough texture. There are also local delicacies such as brown sugar cakes, baked buns and big plate chicken, which are also memorable. But overall, the level of cuisine in Urumqi still has a lot of room for improvement compared with other cities.
In fact, Urumqi's culinary culture has been on the rise in recent years, along with the rise of tourism and rapid economic development in Xinjiang. More and more restaurants have begun to focus on the quality of their dishes and service, introducing new and unique cuisines that have gradually become representatives of local cuisine.
Therefore, I believe that the culinary culture of Urumqi will continue to develop and progress, and in the future there will be more culinary delicacies emerging, so that people can taste more delicious food in this city.