The goal is set! Wenzhou's push to become the world's culinary capital, what are the chances of success?

21st Century Economic Research Institute Researcher Li Guo

On March 30, the Party Committee of Wenzhou held a meeting to conduct in-depth research on the development of Wenzhou cuisine. Wenzhou Party Secretary Zhang Zhenfeng stressed that, by using the initiative to strive to create a “World Food Capital” as the lever to benefit people’s livelihoods and promote development, we will let the world savor Wenzhou through its food, and enable Wenzhou to gain worldwide recognition through cuisine.

Striving to create a “World Food Capital” is of great significance and presents a daunting task. As an important title conferred through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) “Global Creative Cities Network” (UCCN) certification, the selection is open to global food cities, with competition that is international in nature. Since Chengdu became the world’s second and Asia’s first “World Food Capital” in 2010, many cities in China have successively put forward goals to apply. As of now, only 7 cities have succeeded in being selected, and the title carries high value and strong representativeness.

Whether Wenzhou can become the next “World Food Capital” has attracted wide attention.

Need to Break Through First

Positioning the pursuit of a “World Food Capital” as a systematic project, its assessment and evaluation framework is very comprehensive, covering multiple key indicators such as the level of development of the food industry, the cultivation of culinary skills talent, and green and sustainable development. Specifically, it includes the 8 directions shown in the diagram below.

These 8 directions are key contents that Wenzhou must solidly advance in order to apply for the “World Food Capital.” Relevant research from the National Cultural Industry Research Center of Central China Normal University shows that the above 8 directions can be further broken down into 19 dimensions and 33 specific indicators. For example, within the 8th direction alone, it includes 4 dimensions and 16 specific indicators, such as the level of development of culinary education and training, recognition of traditional cuisine, the breadth of dissemination of traditional food, and the intensity of promotion of traditional food.

In addition, the UCCN has clear regulations regarding the number of application slots, the number of times, and the timing.

First, quotas are strictly controlled: within the same application cycle, only one city from a given country may be recommended to participate in the “World Food Capital” selection.

Second, the number of times is limited: if a city is not selected after two consecutive applications, it must pause for 4 years before it can reapply.

Third, the cycle is fixed: the application and selection are conducted once every two years. It is reported that Fuzhou had planned to participate in the selection in 2023 and 2025, for the two application cycles.

In 2010, after three years of preparation, Chengdu became the world’s second and Asia’s first “World Food Capital.” Since then, more cities across the country have joined the race to compete for this international honor.

In 2014, Shunde became the second “World Food Capital” in China; thereafter, Macau (2017), Yangzhou (2019), Huai’an (2021), Chaozhou (2023), and Quanzhou (2025) successfully submitted applications one after another.

In recent years, domestic enthusiasm for applying has continued to run high. In many places, including Taizhou in Zhejiang, Guilin in Guangxi, Jinan in Shandong, Fuzhou and Fuding in Fujian, and Leshan in Sichuan, they have already clearly proposed or advanced work to apply for the “World Food Capital.”

From 2017 to the present, China has basically maintained a pace of one city being selected every two years. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will also have two application opportunities in 2027 and 2029, and each time only one city can be recommended to compete globally. Therefore, in terms of the practical application landscape, Wenzhou needs to stand out first among many domestic “competitors.”

For Wenzhou, a deeper-level challenge lies in the fact that applying to become a “World Food Capital” is not the end point, but a new starting point to enhance Wenzhou’s urban competitiveness by using cuisine as a medium—how to leverage this opportunity to further activate the city’s vitality and expand its influence is the core key.

Just as Shunde did: after successfully applying to become a “World Food Capital,” it promoted its cuisine through food documentaries such as A Bite of China and Seeking Shunde, deeply linking cuisine with city roadshows, investment promotion, and cultural and tourism consumption, thereby connecting related industries such as kitchen appliances, pre-made dishes, and cultural tourism, and significantly boosting the city’s economic growth. Data shows that in 2025, Shunde received 20.11 million tourist arrivals over the whole year, with total tourism revenue reaching 23.36 billion yuan, which were respectively 72.4% and 82.8% higher than at the end of the “13th Five-Year Plan.”

Similarly, Yangzhou: after applying to become a “World Food Capital,” it created food demonstration blocks and improved its talent cultivation system, making cuisine become a city calling card so that consumption potential could continue to be released. It is reported that, to put a shine on the “World Food Capital” gold-lettered brand, over the five years following its successful application, Yangzhou cultivated 3 demonstration blocks for the World Food Capital, built a World Food Capital exhibition hall, and completed the renovation and upgrade of the China Huaiyang Cuisine Museum. In addition, relevant authorities recognized five food education bases, including Yangzhou University Tourism and Culinary College and the Yangzhou Huaiyang Cuisine Chefs Association, created 6 provincial-level and local “rural talent master studio” outlets in the catering and culinary category, and built a full-chain culinary talent education system spanning secondary vocational schools, higher vocational institutions, undergraduate programs, master’s programs, and doctoral programs. Yangzhou’s “Fuchun Tea Snack Making Skills” was included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

These cases also provide valuable experience for Wenzhou, helping it use cuisine as a bond to promote industrial integration and enhance the city’s visibility and core competitiveness.

(Figure: Shunde fish sashimi. Source: background image)

On the policy front, in recent years Wenzhou has continued to promote quality improvement and upgrading of its food industry. The 2024 Work Report of the Wenzhou Municipal People’s Government proposed “making the food industry famous,” and in 2025 it clearly stated to strive to create a “World Food Capital.” In 2026, it will incorporate this into the key construction objectives for the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, and it has also issued policy documents such as the 《Work Measures on Strengthening the Construction of a Skilled Talent Team for “Wenzhou Cuisine” and Supporting the Application for the “World Food Capital” (2025–2027)》.

At the same time, the pursuit of a “World Food Capital” is highly aligned with Wenzhou’s goal of building an international consumer center city. The Zhejiang Provincial “15th Five-Year Plan” Outline clearly supports Wenzhou in creating an international consumer center city. Looking at globally renowned international consumer center cities such as New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo, they all have strong influence in terms of food, with many high-quality catering brands gathered there, a wide variety of cuisines, and local foods that are internationally recognized, forming an integrated pattern of “food + tourism,” “food + exhibitions,” and “food + industry.”

Judging from key indicators, Wenzhou’s brand influence in cuisine still needs to be strengthened. For example, Wenzhou will only be included in the Michelin restaurant selection scope in 2026, with only 3 Black Pearl restaurants. In national high-end catering rankings, the overall share of Ou cuisine is also relatively low.

It can thus be seen that Wenzhou still needs to keep making efforts over the long term, using cuisine as a bond to enhance the city’s influence—this is precisely the core of “Let the world taste Wenzhou through its cuisine, and let Wenzhou gain worldwide acclaim through food.”