Taizhou cuisine reaches global stage

A yellow croaker dish is served in Wenling, a county-level city in Taizhou. [Photo/Tide News]

Lin Meijun, founder of the Lin Fusion — a restaurant brand from Wenling, a county-level city in Taizhou, Zhejiang province — and a pioneer of southern-style Taizhou cuisine, serves as chief judge at an Asian culinary competition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The event marks the latest effort to promote Taizhou cuisine overseas. In February, Lin led a team to present traditional Taizhou dishes at the headquarters of UNESCO in Paris and later at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations headquarters in Rome. Lin Jia Tai Cai (Henghu North Road), a Taizhou cuisine sub-brand of Lin Fusion, was also listed in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide.

Southern-style Taizhou cuisine is rooted in Wenling's coastal food culture. Shitang and Songmen are major fishing ports and key sources of seafood for Taizhou, while cooking traditions from southern Fujian have blended with local culinary practices.

To make traditional dishes easier to replicate, Lin's team has cataloged old Taizhou recipes, documented local cooking techniques, and standardized dishes such as yellow croaker clay-stove rice, a traditional Taizhou dish.

Lin has also been involved in efforts for Taizhou to become a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.