Jiaozi(Dumpling) Banquets        7/18/2008 2:44:53 AM

When traveling in Xi'an, one special cate you should not miss is the Jiaozi Banquet. Jiaozi or Dumpling is a kind of famous fillings wrapped by flour skin in the north of China, which has a very long history. As far back as the Western Han Dynasty (B.C.206-A.D.24) Period Jiaozi was a common food on the table of the residents who lived in the capital city, Chang'an (now called Xi'an). In 1984, this food was primarily presented on the banquet table by the Xi'an Dumpling Feast Restaurant on Jiefang Road. The Xi'an Jiaozi banquets are known for their rich materials and different tastes as well as their attractive shapes. Firstly, their materials of fillings are made from seasonal vegetables, poultry meat, fish, red meat and the delicacies from land and sea, such as the hedgehog fungus, sea pumpkins, shark fins and black mosses etc. Therefore, there are more than one hundred tastes of the Jiaozi on the Xi'an jiaozi banquets. They nearly including all flavors from soup to nuts, for instance, the tomato flavor, chili flavor, fragrant fish flavor, five flavors, fresh and salt combined flavor, sweet-and-sour flavor, curry flavor, oyster sauce flavor, spiced flavor, chili oil flavor and so forth. Secondly, the cookeries of Jiaozi are diversiform. Usually, the basic cooking methods are steaming, frying, parching and boiling. And because with the diverse fillings, the making processes of Jiaozi are very different, the Chinese cookeries such as cooking, sauting, boiling briefly, quick frying, braising and stuffing are put into fullplay. Thirdly, the shapes of the Jiaozi are very wonder. They look like some fancy handicraft articles, some look like butterflies, penguins, green leaves, goldfishes, swallow nests, mandarin ducks, gold (or silver) ingots, flowers, trumpet shells, Apsarases, clouds and pearls etc. all kinds of strange shapes to cannot say. In addition, the names of the Jiaozi on the banquet tables are poetically: Flying Butterflies, Fish Breaking, Black Dragon Lying on the Snow, Dragons Disturbing the Sea, White Rabbits on the Green Lawn, Sending Charcoal in Snowy Weather, Have a Pleasant Journey and the like, every one is a delight to the eyes and makes your mouth water, at this moment you may have not the heart to touch them or put one in your mouth. 
 
Steamed Jiaozi(dumpling)with walnut seeds fillings.
If you would like to taste Jiaozi in Xi'an, you'd better choose the Xi'an Dumpling Feast Restaurant on Jiefang Road, and the Defachang Restaurant. They offer up to 108 different kinds of Jiaozi. Different kinds of Jiaozi have different shapes, flavors and fillings. Sitting in the restaurants, you tasting the Jiaozi and listening to the old stories and legends of Jiaozi told by the waiters or waitresses that is really an enjoyment. One Jiaozi is one song, a dish of Jiaozi with a beauteous story whoever comes to the restaurants will become gluttonous for the delicious Jiaozi and be attractive by the stories and legends. In a certain sense, the Jiaozi banquets are more popular with the foreigners. In some of the big Jiaozi restaurants in Xi'an city, more than one third of the customers are foreigners, especially Japanese.

The foreigners who partake of the Xi'an Jiaozi banquets all regard the Jiaozi as an art. When the different and vivid shapes of Jiaozi are served on the tables, the Jiaozi are so admirable to everyone that they are not burning to eat but take photos with their cameras or film with the hand-held video cameras.

Xi'an Jiazi banquets have received many favorable reports from the foreign guests with its proper temptation in the years. After partaking of a Jiaozi banquet in Jiefang Road Jiaozi Resturant of Xi'an, the U.S. former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said "This is a very wonderful lunch, very excellent!"Now the Xi'an Jiaozi banquets are indispensables for those who visit Xi'an. Be remindful, you should not miss this epicurean feast when you traveling in Xi'an city.