Xuzhou has a long history in gourmet culture. Pengzu, the founder of Dapeng State, is considered as the originator of Chinese cooking. The legend is that in the reign of Emperor Yao (prehistorical age), Pengzu was granted a fief for his fine cooking of wild chicken soup. Pengzu set up Dapeng State in the present Xuzhou area. Xuzhou cooking carries forward the traditional Pengzu style with fine craftsmanship and local flavour. A special feature of Xuzhou cooking is that each dish has its own tale or legend. Let's take Fish in Lamb Chunks for example. This is a famous stewed dish, in which fish is put inside lamb chunks. It tells that Xiding, the youngest son of Pengzu loved fishing, but his father didn't allow him to go fishing for fear that he would drown. One day when Xiding came back from fishing, afraid that his father would scold him, he begged his mother to chop the dewing lamb into chunks to hide the fish inside. When Pengzu came back for dinner, he was surprised to find the lamb extraordinarily delicious. That's how the delicacy of fish in lamb chunks came into being. It happens that “ 鲜” the Chinese character for “delicious ” is a combination of fish and lamb. The left half is the character of fish, the right lamb.

Special Local Product
　　Among various produce in Xuzhou, the most popular are apples in Fengxian County, rare winter peaches in Peixian County, ginkgo nuts in Pizhou. Vegetables like burdock and dried taicai sell well throughout China, and crunchy candies are enjoyed both by children and adults.