The origin of Cantonese cuisine can be traced back to the early Han Dynasty, more than two thousand years ago.

In ancient times, before the immigrants from the Central Plains arrived, the ancestors of the Yue people in Lingnan already had a unique eating style, such as a taste for insects, snakes, fish, clams and raw food.

During the Western Han Dynasty, Liu An once wrote that "the Yue people obtained pythons as delicacies."

"Lingwai Daida" written by Zhou Qufei in the Song Dynasty also recorded that Guangzhou people "eat all birds, beasts, insects and snakes".

This is inseparable from the geographical environment where Guangzhou is located.

Guangzhou belongs to the subtropical water network zone, where insects, snakes, fish and clams are particularly abundant. They are readily available and can be cooked and eaten. This has developed a preference for fresh and vigorous eating habits.

Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, Han people from the Central Plains have continued to move southward into Guangzhou.

They not only brought advanced production technology and cultural knowledge, but also brought the Central Plains food style of "never getting tired of cooking finely and eating finely".

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, a large number of merchants from all over the Central Plains entered Guangzhou, and Guangzhou's cooking skills improved rapidly. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Guangzhou's food culture reached its peak.

According to relevant documents recorded in the second year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1822): "The forest and wine sea in Xiguan, Guangzhou, there is no cold or heat, no day and night." In the 1920s and 1930s, Guangzhou's food customs were compatible with the north and the south, and were both Chinese and Western, and were very distinctive.

Delicious food and snacks appeared in large numbers.

Over the long years, Guangzhou has not only inherited the traditions of the Central Plains food culture, but also absorbed the essence of foreign and various aspects of cooking, and then continuously absorbed, accumulated, improved, and innovated according to local tastes, hobbies, and habits, thus forming dishes.

Various, skillful cooking, high quality and delicious food features.

In the past century, it has become one of the most representative food cultures in China and the most influential in the world.

Whether it is based on the three major cuisines, namely "Shandong cuisine" in the Yellow River Basin, "Sichuan cuisine", "Jiangsu cuisine" and "Shanghai cuisine" in the Yangtze River basin, and "Cantonese cuisine" in the Pearl River basin, or according to the four major cuisines (i.e. Shandong cuisine)

Cantonese cuisine occupies an extremely important position.

Up to now, Guangzhou's food, whether it is the variety and quality of food, the number and scale of restaurants, or the food environment and service quality, is the first in the country and also enjoys a high reputation abroad.

Currently, there are nearly 20,000 restaurants in the city, with as many as 900,000 seats.