Beijing Stages a Series of Halal Culinary Highlights in September

The 3rd Beijing Halal Culinary Culture Festival will be held from September 10 to 16. The reporter learned yesterday from the Beijing Cuisine Association that this year's Halal food festival coincides with the ethnic minority festival of Eid al-Fitr, and 'the association has set the venue for this year's Halal Culinary Culture Festival opening ceremony at Niujie (Ox Street).' Jiang Junxian, president of the Beijing Cuisine Association, told the reporter: 'The collective debut of Halal cuisine is the highlight of the opening day. At that time, famous Halal specialty restaurants and time-honored Halal brands will be organized to hold specialty dish display activities at Niujie, popularizing Halal specialty dishes to consumers and promoting Halal food culture.'

This year's Halal food festival is supported by the China Cuisine Association, the Beijing Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce and the Xicheng District People's Government, hosted by the Beijing Cuisine Association, and undertaken by the Halal Cuisine Professional Committee of the Beijing Cuisine Association and Xiangda Investment Management Co., Ltd., among others, with the support of the Beijing Catering Industry Association and the Beijing Western Cuisine Industry Association. The event is themed 'Promoting Halal Food Culture, Fostering Ethnic Unity and Harmony,' with the slogan 'Boosting Catering Consumption, Serving Beijing Residents.' During the Halal food festival, a series of activities will be organized, including Halal dish displays, the recognition of famous Halal dishes, exchanges of Chinese and foreign Halal culinary skills, famous chefs entering communities to teach Halal dishes, the editing of a Halal popular cookbook, and Halal catering enterprises launching preferential and discount measures.

Jiang Junxian also specifically mentioned that to build the Beijing Halal dish brand and expand the influence of Beijing Halal cuisine, this year's 'Beijing Halal Specialty Dish Recognition,' a branch activity of this Halal food festival, has district/county ethnic affairs commissions, Halal catering (group) companies and organizing committee members self-nominate and recommend Halal candidate dishes. Entries must be distinctive Halal dishes from the Beijing area, and the registration scope includes Beijing's hundred Halal specialty restaurants and enterprises with a business license, a Halal food production and operation permit, and a hygiene standard grade of B or above. After collective selection by the organizing committee, at the end of this Halal food festival, the city's first batch of 'Beijing Halal Specialty Dishes' will be produced; the organizing committee will award plaques for the 'Beijing Halal Specialty Dishes' and include the first batch in the 'Beijing Halal Popular Cookbook,' edited and published as a book.

The Chinese and foreign Halal culinary skills exchange activity during the food festival will invite the wives of the embassies of Malaysia, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries, as well as local culinary masters, to have face-to-face exchanges with Beijing Halal culinary masters, displaying skills and special techniques. Organizing the Halal food tour and famous chefs entering communities to teach Halal dishes is also one of the important activities of this Halal Culinary Culture Festival. Halal culinary masters will go to the ethnic minority community of Niujie Subdistrict to teach Halal dishes on site, explaining the origins, nutritional value, anecdotes and legends, and preparation methods of the dishes, and inviting community residents to learn to make Halal dishes.

Li Weiwei, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce, said she hopes to use this Halal food festival as a platform to more effectively serve world-city construction, explore the long and brilliant history and culture of Beijing Halal catering, build the Halal catering brand, enhance enterprises' comprehensive strength, better enliven Beijing's Halal catering market, advocate healthy, low-carbon and green consumption concepts, and promote catering consumption.