Food, Shops and Eating Out in Song Cities, 960–1279

Between 960 and 1279, food in Song China was shaped by expanding commerce, agricultural change and the distinct environments of the north and south. The Northern Song capital, Kaifeng, stood on the North China Plain; after the Jin conquest and the court’s move south in 1126–1127, Hangzhou became the Southern Song capital. The markets and restaurants of the two capitals left unusually detailed accounts of urban eating.

One especially rich account is the Dongjing Meng Hua Lu, a memoir by Meng Yuanlao, who had lived in Kaifeng before fleeing south. Its preface is dated 1147, after the capital had moved, and the book was first printed in 1187. Meng wrote nostalgically about the former Northern Song capital, describing its street life, seasonal goods and food businesses. His account is vivid, but reflects the viewpoint of someone remembering a prosperous city and able to take part in its pleasures.

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How cities obtained their food

Song cities depended on both nearby producers and wider commercial connections. Farmers and fishers brought goods to local markets, while wholesalers, retailers and peddlers helped move provisions through urban streets. The Southern Song capital’s position at the southern end of the Grand Canal and its place in a major trading region supported the flow of grain and other goods. Hangzhou’s lake and river surroundings also supplied freshwater fish, while West Lake provided geese and ducks.

Food varied with regional conditions. Rice was especially prominent in the south, while northern diets made greater use of wheat and flour foods, including noodles and dumplings. These broad differences did not make either region uniform: migrants, merchants and officials carried preferences between places, and cities could serve food from well beyond their immediate hinterlands. Meng’s nostalgic description of Kaifeng celebrates this abundance, claiming that its markets offered goods from across the world.

Long-distance exchange also brought foods from outside China. Song accounts mention items such as raisins, dates and Persian jujubes, as well as grape wine. Rice wine was more commonly encountered than grape wine, which remained associated with elite consumption.

Markets, street food and the working day

Commercial activity in Kaifeng was not confined to a brief daytime market. After the city’s curfew was abolished in 1063, shops and peddlers could sell from early morning, and business continued late into the night. Along the Imperial Way in Hangzhou, breakfast sellers offered soups, pancakes, fried tripe and pieces of mutton or goose. Noodle shops there were reported to remain open through the day and night. Night markets closed during the third night watch and reopened during the fifth, and were noted for continuing even in severe winter weather.

Street trade served residents seeking a quick meal as well as shoppers and people attending entertainment. Food sellers offered prepared dishes and snacks, while shops specialising in noodles or other foods gave customers particular options. Seasonal celebrations brought another surge of trade. Meng’s account of Qingming describes people returning from outings with purchases that included flat cakes, exotic fruit, duck eggs and other goods. These details show how food selling formed part of a wider urban routine, rather than taking place only in formal restaurants.

Markets also joined urban consumers to rural producers, sometimes uneasily. A Song court case describes a dispute between a city fish seller and a farmer who sold fish between periods of farm work. Its account criticises urban traders who bullied rural vendors.

Restaurants and regional tastes

Song records distinguish restaurants, where diners could choose from menus, from some taverns and inns that offered less choice. Restaurants developed specialities and served customers who wanted particular regional styles. Kaifeng had establishments offering southern food, including for officials from southeastern parts of the empire. References to northern, southern and Sichuan food show that people in the period recognised differences in regional cooking.

Political upheaval reshaped these tastes. After the Northern Song court moved to Hangzhou, people displaced from the north brought foods and cooking traditions associated with Henan and Kaifeng. In the new capital, these mixed with local Zhejiang practices and other regional traditions. Hangzhou restaurants served a range of preferences: some specialised in Sichuan food, while others offered coastal seafood or dishes associated with northern regions. One establishment was known for iced foods, and others catered to diners who preferred food served hot, warm, at room temperature or cold.

A large restaurant meal demanded skilled service. Accounts describe dinner parties with around twenty dishes, where a server needed to remember orders accurately. A customer’s complaint could bring a reprimand, a deduction from wages or, in an extreme case, dismissal. Eating out therefore depended not only on cooks and ingredients but also on the labour of waiters. Some women managed restaurants and inns, part of a broader pattern in which women in lower- and middle-class households could take part in urban work and business.

Cooking, meals and differences in consumption

Menus and memoirs name soups, noodles, steamed dumplings, sesame buns, candied fruit and shellfish cooked with rice wine. Wheat flour became dough, which cooks could roll, cut or fold around a filling. A steamer cooked dumplings above boiling water; frying instead put food into hot fat. Broths, vinegar, salt, ginger and other seasonings changed the flavour of staple ingredients.

For poorer households, the evidence identifies rice, pork and salted fish among important foods. Northern and southern staples differed, and access to the elaborate variety described in restaurant menus depended on a person’s means. Wealthier diners could choose from a broader selection of domestic and wild meats, poultry, shellfish and fish. Beef was eaten relatively rarely because oxen were valuable for ploughing. Dairy products, once more familiar in earlier periods, were also uncommon in Song diets.

For the wider setting, see Daily Life in Song China: Households, Work, and Urban Life, 960–1279.