As an ancient capital of nine dynasties Luoyang, its long history is not only embodied in the cultural relic attractions, also in food. Many of dishes in Luoyang are from royal family. In addition to the traditional imperial cuisine, there are also delicious snacks like Bufan soup, Zhang’s roast chicken. On the streets in Luoyang, all kinds of soup can be seen everywhere: drinking soup with pepper in winter can warm stomach; Bufan soup is full of local characteristics and it is very popular; drinking a bowl of beef soup will make you sweat. Coming to Luoyang, whether imperial cuisines or street foods, it is worth to try.
Luoyang Soups: quintessence of the ancient capital
Luoyang boasts many soup restaurants, which you can find everywhere and their business is always booming. Generally they are small restaurants which, irrespective of their fame, consist of at most two or three rooms. The real reason that Luoyang soup restaurants have remained successful over the years is that they manage to cater to the taste of the ordinary people.
Luoyang soups, just the smell of which make the mouth water, come in various types, from strong to subtle tasting: soups of beef, mutton, cattle entrails, sheep entrails, tofu, meatballs and many other ingredients, making a total of around twenty or thirty types. Of particular interest are the so-called “old soups” which can be tasted in the old city and along the banks of the river Chan.
There are three fundamental rules for the preparation of a good Luoyang soup: first, the time, the soup has to stew for a long time, precisely from evening to dawn; second, the seasoning, in the pan there is always a canvas bag similar to a tiny pillow containing Sichuan pepper, star anise, cinnamon sticks and other spices. Every family has its secret seasonings and a recipe handed down through generations; third, never add water, there must be sufficient water at the beginning and it cannot be added later on because this will “water down” the soup and impair the original flavour, it is, in fact, called “original soup”.
Soup is the quintessence of food and in Luoyang eating a good soup is now part of the popular culture and a habit that Luoyang citizens are never going to lose.
Due to its long history of the capital of different dynasties, the food culture in Luoyang has developed for thousands of years so that the local food and snacks are very popular among the folk. Luoyang food is characterized with rich soup which means that the most dishes may be cooked in soup and eaten in soup.
n ancient times, Luoyang was said to be the middle part of the world and a great city of China. Food, as part of the Chinese culture, has changed with times and places. Luoyang used to be the capital city of 13 dynasties. In the 1950s, due to the fast development contributed by migrants, Luoyang food became diverse. Luoyang is surrounded by mountains with little rainfall, so local people like drinking soups. No matter it's morning, noon time or the evening, Luoyang people enjoy drinking soups. The Water Banquet, mainly with soup, has become the national feast and Luoyang's pride. Therefore, the essence of Luoyang food is concluded in one word, soup.

Luoyang has about 30 kinds of soups. The materials include mutton, beef, donkey meat, tofu and meat balls. The beef soup is very delicious. It is made with Chinese red pepper, anise, Chinese cassia tree and amomum tsao-ko. Luoyang has many soup restaurants. Most of them are small and the soups are cheap.That is an advantage that attracts people.

Luoyang Bufan Soup is sour, spicy, salty and nice. With a history of 120 years, it is a very typical local dish. It is called as 'Jiufumen BuFan Soup' by local people. It is cook with needle mushroom, leek, seaweed and coriander.Hula Soup also has a history of 100 years. It is cook with powder, meat, peanut, needle mushroom, garlic, Chinese yam, salt, soy sauce, pepper, ginger and pepper.