Jiangsu Food

Chinese Food Map › Jiangsu Food

Jiangsu Food covers Su cuisine (苏菜) and the wider food traditions of Jiangsu Province. It includes the cooking of the Yangtze and Huai river regions, Taihu Lake, the Grand Canal corridor and the coast, as well as street snacks, noodles, tea, alcoholic drinks, ingredients and food-making crafts. The selections below are examples documented in regional food lists, not a ranking or a complete inventory.

Jiangsu’s regional cuisine is often described through Jinling (Nanjing), Huaiyang, Su-Xi (Suzhou–Wuxi) and Xuhai (Xuzhou-area) traditions. These labels are useful guides; boundaries and classifications vary across culinary sources and do not describe every local food tradition.

Jiangsu Food by City

The city entries collect selected local dishes, snacks and staple foods. Many recipes travel across city and county boundaries; the place names identify well-known associations rather than exclusive origins.

• Nanjing: Jinling salted duck, duck blood and vermicelli soup, duck-oil crisp biscuits, soup dumplings, sugar taro seedlings and Qinhuai snack assortments. Nanjing’s official historical account documents a broad duck-cooking tradition, while the Jiangsu food list also names salted duck and local snacks.
• Wuxi: Wuxi-style soy-braised ribs, Liangxi crispy eel, mirror-box tofu, Taihu fish dishes, Wuxi steamed buns and osmanthus taro.
• Xuzhou: ground-pot chicken, lamb soup, sha tang (savory wheat-and-meat soup), lamb hidden with fish, lamb dishes and baked flatbread.
• Changzhou: Tianmu Lake casserole fish head, Liyang zha-gan (pork and offal wrapped with dried tofu), silver-thread noodles, sesame cake and Liyang black rice.
• Suzhou: squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, Aozao noodles, Fengzhen pork noodles, three-shrimp noodles, Suzhou-style pastries and seasonal Taihu-area freshwater dishes.
• Nantong: Haimen goat, razor clams and other coastal shellfish, Langshan chicken, white-braised river fish, crab-roe soup dumplings and local baked cakes.
• Lianyungang: coastal seafood, stir-fried cuttlefish, sea urchin and laver preparations, Guanyun dou-dan (a local insect-larva food), fish-soup noodles and Banpu mung-bean jelly.
• Huai’an: soft-simmered rice-field eel, Pingqiao tofu, bulrush dishes, Qingong meatballs, Xuyi crayfish, Wenlou soup dumplings, tea fritters and Huai’an spicy soup.
• Yancheng: Dongtai fish soup noodles, rice dumplings, seafood and freshwater crab dishes, Yancheng-style braised goose, Funing layered cake and Wuyou twisted pastries.
• Yangzhou: Yangzhou fried rice, lion’s head meatballs, boiled shredded tofu, Wensi tofu soup, three-nested duck, shrimp-seed wontons, three-cube buns and layered oil cake. Yangzhou was named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in 2019.
• Zhenjiang: crystal salted pork hock, Zhenjiang vinegar ribs, river fish dishes, Yangzhong pufferfish, crab-roe soup dumplings and pot-cover noodles.
• Taizhou: five-spice dried tofu, Qintong lake foods, braised river eel, crab-roe lion’s head and Huangqiao sesame flatbread.
• Suqian: Huangou pig’s head, Hongze/Sihong lake crab, fish-head dumplings, Xincheng-style lamb and local baked pastries. Suqian is associated with the Yanghe and Shuangou baijiu distilleries.

The 2019 association list supplies further city-by-city examples, including several dishes and wheat or rice snacks not repeated in the short guide above.

Su cuisine and regional styles

Su cuisine is a broad culinary family rather than a single fixed menu. Huaiyang cooking is associated especially with Yangzhou and Huai’an; Jinling cooking with Nanjing; Su-Xi with the Taihu region; and Xuhai with Xuzhou and northern Jiangsu. Jiangsu government and local-history sources describe Huaiyang’s regional connections and the role of Huai’an and Yangzhou in the name.

Across these traditions, representative preparations include braising, simmering, steaming, stir-frying and careful handling of broths and seasonal ingredients. Dishes such as boiled shredded tofu and Wensi tofu are associated with fine knife work; Jiangsu cooking also includes robust local dishes and everyday noodle, rice and snack traditions. These techniques and flavor descriptions vary by place and dish rather than defining every Jiangsu meal.

Street food, breakfast and snacks

Street foods and breakfast foods are prominent in city food traditions. Examples include Nanjing duck blood and vermicelli soup, soup dumplings and Qinhuai snacks; Xuzhou sha tang and baked flatbread; Huai’an tea fritters and spicy soup; Yangzhou buns, wontons and layered pastries; Taizhou fish-soup noodles and Huangqiao sesame flatbread; and Suzhou Aozao noodles and market pastries. The provincial city list groups these foods with local dishes and records a much wider selection.

Noodles, rice and flour foods

Jiangsu’s staple foods include rice dishes and wheat-based noodles, dumplings, buns, flatbreads and pastries. Well-known examples include Yangzhou fried rice, Suzhou Aozao and Fengzhen noodles, Dongtai fish soup noodles, Xuzhou baked flatbread, Zhenjiang pot-cover noodles, Huai’an Yangchun noodles and Taizhou fish-soup noodles. Local forms vary by city and county; “Jiangsu noodles” is not a single recipe or style.

Tea, non-alcoholic drinks and tea foods

Regional teas include Suzhou Dongting Biluochun, Nanjing Yuhua tea, Yangzhou Lüyangchun, Yixing black tea and Liyang Tianmu Lake white tea. The traditional processing skills and associated customs of Dongting Biluochun, Yuhua tea and Yangzhou Fuchun tea snacks were included among Jiangsu projects in China’s 2022 UNESCO listing for traditional tea processing techniques and related customs.

Tea is also part of local food service: Yangzhou’s morning tea pairs tea with small dishes and pastries, while Suzhou and Nanjing have their own tea snacks and drinking customs. These are regional practices, not a single province-wide tea ceremony.

Alcohol and fermentation

Jiangsu’s alcoholic drinks include Suqian baijiu such as Yanghe and Shuangou, as well as locally made rice wines and sweet fermented rice preparations. Jiangsu’s intangible-heritage register records brewing traditions in multiple localities, including Jintan sealed-jar wine, Yuqi Shuangtao wine, Tongluo yellow rice wine, Houcheng yellow rice wine and Haimen Yisheng wine. These are distinct local products and techniques rather than one uniform Jiangsu wine style.

Ingredients, condiments and regional products

Local cooking draws on rice and wheat, river and lake fish, shellfish, crabs, water plants, poultry, pork and seasonal vegetables. The city food list includes Taihu fish, coastal shellfish, Huai’an bulrush, Xuyi crayfish and dishes made with local river and lake produce. Regional products and protected names include Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar, Suzhou-area Yangcheng Lake hairy crab, Nanjing salted duck and rice and tea products. A product’s protected geographical name applies to its defined production area; it does not mean every similarly named food comes from that area.

Food brands and named regional products

Several Jiangsu food names are tied to established producers or place-based protection systems. Suqian is home to the Yanghe and Shuangou distilleries; Zhenjiang’s vinegar industry includes Hengshun, a long-established producer associated with the city’s vinegar-making tradition. Dongting Biluochun, Yuhua tea, Yangcheng Lake hairy crab and Nanjing salted duck are regional products whose names point to particular places or production traditions. This short list identifies examples for further reading, not a ranking of companies or a guarantee that a product is made in a particular district; check the applicable geographical-indication label and production area.

Cooking techniques and food crafts

Knife work, stock and broth preparation, braising, simmering, steaming, noodle making, pastry shaping, tea processing and fermentation are all represented in Jiangsu food traditions. Huaiyang sources specifically discuss seasonal ingredient selection and fine slicing; documented craft traditions also include Biluochun and Yuhua tea processing, Fuchun tea snacks and several local rice-wine methods.

See also

• Nanjing Salted Duck
• Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup
• Wuxi Spare Ribs
• Liangxi Crispy Eel
• Squirrel Mandarin Fish
• Lion's Head Meatballs
• Three-Nested Duck
• Boiled Shredded Tofu
• Crystal Salted Pork Hock
• Chinese Food Map
• Anhui Food
• Shandong Food
• Shanghai Food
• Zhejiang Food