Shandong Cuisine or Lu Cuisine — Representative of Northern Chinese Food Culture

In the Chinese food culture, Shandong (Lu) Cuisine is the most historical (more than 2,500 years old) and the original series, which other schools have not influenced. 

They are the representatives of northern Chinese dishes, which used to be a dominant cuisine for the royal families for the last 700 years in the history of China. 

Lu Cuisine is the most complicated series of Chinese food as well, which includes 91 cooking methods.

It also has very strict requirements for cooking materials, most of which are chosen from fresh local productions.

In addition, an important ingredient is the time-consuming soup stock, which usually takes hours or days of stewing and filtering. 

Nowadays, most northern Chinese follow the cooking methods of Lu Cuisine. 

Meanwhile, some of the most authentic and exquisite dishes are served more on high-end occasions because of the expensive materials, time-consuming, and complicated cooking methods.

Lu Cuisine also has set the basic etiquette of the Chinese food culture, which includes balance, refinement, and delicacy.

It has strict requirements for decorating and regulating dishes for each important occasion, like a wedding or birthday.

The serving order, collocation of dishes, seating order, and dress code are all detailedly set.