"The land of Qilu is thousands of miles of plaster, the mountains and seas are blended, and the scenery is gorgeous. "Historical Records: The Biography of Goods and Colonies" once praised: "The land of Shandong is thousands of miles of plaster, the river and the sea meet, and the products are abundant. This is a vivid depiction of Shandong's unique natural conditions.
Shandong is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and has a mild climate, which makes the province a collection of large rivers, large lakes, hills, plains, seas and other landforms. These rich and diverse landforms provide an unusually rich and balanced variety of resources for the selection of ingredients in Shandong cuisine. According to the research of Mr. Zhou Xiaoyan, a famous chef of Huaiyang cuisine and a professor at Yangzhou University, the frequency of each category of Shandong cuisine, such as fruits and vegetables, poultry and livestock, seafood, freshwater river fresh, mountain mushrooms, and dried treasures, is between 15% and 18%. This diversity of ingredients has inspired the richness and diversity of cooking techniques of Shandong cuisine, and the cooking techniques of each ingredient are different.
Shandong has a long history of vegetable cultivation, a wide variety and excellent quality, and is known as "one of the three major vegetable gardens in the world". Zhangqiu green onions, Lanling garlic, Laiwu ginger, Jiaozhou cabbage, Weifang radish, Caoxian asparagus, Shouguang leeks, etc., are all famous products at home and abroad. The fruit yield is extremely high and the quality is excellent, such as Yantai apple, Laiyang pear, Yangxin pear, Leling jujube, Dezhou watermelon, Feicheng peach, Qingzhou peach, Dazeshan grape, Caozhou papaya, etc., all of which are the top grade in the fruit.
The output of aquatic products is among the best in the country, and the coastal areas are rich in more than 60 kinds of seafood such as fish, shrimp, shellfish, algae, etc., and the freshwater fish resources mainly include crucian carp, carp, grass carp, snakehead, hairy crab, beautiful white shrimp, giant river shrimp, soft-shelled turtle, bighead carp, silver carp and so on more than 70 kinds. Animal resources mainly include Luxi cattle, Bohai black cattle, Mengshan cattle, Texas donkeys, Yimeng black pigs, etc. Shandong has a long history of brewing industry, such as Jining's soy sauce and pickles, Luokou vinegar, Jimo old wine, etc. The abundant products provide rich material resources for the development of Shandong cuisine. It is the spiritual pursuit of Confucianism that has been infiltrated for more than 2,000 years, "never getting tired of eating, never getting tired of being fine", coupled with the unique material conditions of Shandong, which has finally become a grand view of Shandong cuisine. "