Eight bowls in Yancheng refer to eight banquet dishes: stewed earth fat, big chicken holding chicken, braised glutinous rice balls, baked mussels, cakes, taro and shrimp soup, braised pork and braised knife fish.

Yancheng Eight Bowls is the representative of Yancheng folk dishes, with fresh taste, thick but not greasy, light but not thin, and quite local characteristics in color, fragrance, taste and shape. Its cooking skills have been passed down by the times, and now it has become the most distinctive food brand in Yancheng.

In order to protect and promote the brand of Eight Bowls, Yancheng Chengtou Group has been committed to trademark application and brand creation for many years. After years of efforts, in 217, Yancheng Eight Bowls was officially approved and registered as a "collective trademark" by the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, becoming the first local dish with identity in China.

The historical origin of Yancheng Eight Bowls

Tracing back to the birth of Yancheng Eight Bowls, it is legendary. Yancheng Eight Bowls originated from the Three Kingdoms Period. According to legend, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sun Jian, the first Xiancheng of Yandu County (the earliest established county in Yancheng) (the father of Sun Quan, the prince of the Three Kingdoms), was the first Xiancheng of Yandu County, Sun Jian, who was found in history books. Soon after his arrival, he received a strange case, and he still had no clue after repeated investigations, so he thought hard about it and could not sleep at night.

One day, a monk pointed out that eight immortals would pass by here in three days, which might help him solve the case. In order to solve the case quickly, Sun Jian ordered the carpenter to make a fine square table, put eight bowls, eight chopsticks, eight spoons, eight dishes, eight cups and eight chairs, served eight dishes, and asked the Eight Immortals to have meals.

Sun Jian personally held incense in his hands in the court, and respectfully said, "I would like to invite the eight immortals to have dinner in Hanya." Then he recounted the strange case, told him something strange in the case, and begged the eight immortals to point out the maze. The eight immortals were very satisfied with Sun Jian's kind invitation and the food and wine he prepared.

That night, Sun Jian was instructed by a fairy in his dream and solved the case quickly. Eight dishes were used to entertain eight immortals and solve the case, thus creating the "eight bowls". The square table was later called the square table. As a result, the people of Yandu followed suit and used eight bowls for banquets, hence the name Yancheng Eight Bowls.

At the end of Sui Dynasty, Wei Che occupied Yancheng and built a palace. In order to show his identity when entertaining the gentry, he added many precious ingredients to the eight bowls of banquet, so that the eight bowls could enter the palace from the people. Gradually, the Eight Bowls spread in Yancheng, and after thousands of years of continuous inheritance and development, they evolved into the "Eight Bowls in Yancheng" that we are familiar with today.