Nowadays, no matter in any city in the north and south of Tianshan Mountain, you can eat Xinjiang ethnic cuisine, and you can also taste Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine and even Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine. In Xinjiang, we can not only feel the emotional blending of all ethnic groups, but also appreciate the colorful interaction, infiltration and integration of national cultures, among which Xinjiang's diversified food culture is the most convincing.

Xinjiang has the soil to produce this integrated and diverse food culture, which is mainly the result of Xinjiang's unique geographical location and the mutual exchange, communication and tolerance among ethnic groups from ancient times to the present. Because Xinjiang is the only big passage from the Central Plains to Persia, West Asia and even Europe on the ancient Silk Road.

As we all know, muslim food culture has been loved by people of all ethnic groups for a long historical period. Muslim catering culture, after thousands of years of evolution, has become a wonderful flower in the garden of Chinese catering culture.

In order to understand the current development of Xinjiang's characteristic catering culture, the reporter interviewed Zhang Yuansong, a China culinary master and president of Urumqi Catering Service Industry Association. Zhang Yuansong recalled that in the 196s, he went to Altay from his hometown of Jiangsu Branch. At that time, no matter where he went, he could eat mixed noodles. At that time, the mixed noodles were very simple, mainly potatoes, cabbage and radishes. At that time, being able to eat oily noodles was not only a luxury but also a symbol of status.

"The development of characteristic catering industry in Xinjiang can only be said after the reform and opening up. After the 198s, all kinds of development in Xinjiang entered a peak period, and more and more people participated in the construction of Xinjiang. People from all corners of the country not only tasted the local food in Xinjiang, but also brought the catering culture in their hometown to Xinjiang. As a result, in addition to halal restaurants, restaurants with different flavors such as Sichuan style, Hunan cuisine, Shandong jiaozi, Hebei donkey meat pie, and Guizhou crossing the bridge rice noodles appeared in the north and south of Tianshan Mountain. It can be said that the reform and opening up has not only brought rapid changes to the people in Xinjiang, but also enriched the food culture in Xinjiang. In Urumqi, you can find traces of eight major Chinese cuisines, and you can also find Xinjiang ethnic cuisine. From this point of view, the food culture, like other cultures, has influenced each other, infiltrated and tolerated each other in the process of gradual development, thus forming a xinjiang cuisine with Xinjiang flavor. " When talking about the development of catering industry in Xinjiang, Zhang Yuansong cited some examples from time to time.

Anyone who has eaten pilaf knows that pilaf is a traditional food of Uighurs. However, to trace the history of pilaf, we should start with the food culture in the Central Plains and the food culture in the Western Regions. According to research, wheat is mainly produced in northern China, but few people know that wheat was originally a food crop planted in Persia, Central Asia and the Western Regions, while rice was only planted in southern China. In the long history, with the development of society, merchants from the Central Plains brought rice to the Western Regions, while merchants from the Western Regions brought wheat seeds to the mainland. Therefore, Uighurs put raisins, almonds, walnuts, carrots, onions and delicious mutton together to make pilaf with high nutritional value.

Zhang Yuan Song said that at present, it can be said that Xinjiang has become the window of China and even the world's food culture, not to mention that the local ethnic catering culture has spread all over the north and south of Tianshan Mountain, and western food, Chinese food, halal food and even Russian and Korean restaurants are everywhere in Urumqi. To say that the development characteristics of various cuisines are that all cuisines have changed their tastes in Xinjiang. The unique pungent taste of Sichuan cuisine and Hunan cuisine has been improved by chefs and turned into spicy after the entrance. Visitors from all walks of life in Xinjiang, after tasting different cuisines, feel that the taste is better than that in the mainland.

for many years, Zhang yuansong has devoted himself to the study of Xinjiang's characteristic food culture. He said that Xinjiang specialty dishes after the fusion of various catering cultures not only won praises from guests from all over the world and foreign tourists who came to Xinjiang for sightseeing, but also became the mainstream catering culture of Xinjiang people.