Festival celebrating Western food concludes in Harbin

A festival celebrating all things gastronomic in the west -- the fifth China International Western Food Culture Festival -- concluded in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, on July 12.

Activities during the five-day event include the fifth China Western Food Experiences Sharing Meeting, a China International Western Food Competition and a western food tasting.

Sponsored by the China Hotel Association and the Department of Commerce of Heilongjiang province, the festival is a platform that promotes Harbin’s western food and the continuing evolution and development of the city’s unique relationship with western food.

Harbin was awarded with an honorary title of “the Capital City of China’s Western Food” by the China Hospitality Association in July 2018.

Western food, especially Russian food, are served daily on the tables of many Harbin residents, just like hot pot in Chongqing, yangrou paomo, or flat-bread in mutton soup in Xi’an and fried noodles in Beijing.

Western food culture has existed in Harbin for more than a century.

The first western food restaurant in Harbin opened in 1905. With increasing numbers of the European nobility coming to Harbin, western restaurants at the time enjoyed an explosive period of growth.

In 1937, there were more than 260 western restaurants in Harbin, and 37 of them were located on Harbin’s Central Street.

Typical western food -- such as Russian bread, red sausages, sour cucumbers and strawberry jam -- gradually became the daily food for locals over a century-long period.

As of July, 2019, there are more than 200 western restaurants and around 1,200 restaurants serving western food in Harbin.

Traditional western restaurant brands in Harbin include Huamei, Portman and Tadaosi. In addition, a new batch of restaurants trying to adapt western food flavors are growing in Harbin.