Highlighting Our Committee Member | Xu Aiqin: Dedicated to Creating the Ideal Life of "Taizhou Nourishing Food"

Member Profile: Xu Aiqin, a member of the CPPCC Jiaojiang District Committee, a representative intangible cultural heritage inheritor in Taizhou City, a director of the Jiaojiang District Women Entrepreneurs Association, and the General Manager of Taizhou Shibutang Taoqi Catering Management Co., Ltd.

Exploring "Taizhou Nourishing Food, Food-Medicine Homology"

Xu Aiqin was born in Wenling. Her father, Xu Sanbao, is an intangible cultural heritage inheritor skilled in making traditional Wenling nourishing foods, renowned for his exceptional earthenware duck soup. Today, she has inherited her father's craftsmanship, becoming a new-generation inheritor. The "Shibutang" (Nourishing Food Hall) she founded draws on others' techniques while integrating local traditions, forming a series of medicinal cuisine centered on replenishing qi, dispelling cold, and providing gentle nourishment.

"To make good stews, the ingredients are the most important." This is Xu Aiqin's first principle in the catering business. Angelica from Gansu, astragalus from Shanxi, ginseng from Jilin, free-range chickens from specific farmers... Since opening her first store, she has insisted on using authentic medicinal materials and original, high-quality ingredients.

Having been rooted in Taizhou for over twenty years, Xu Aiqin currently owns three stores and is dedicated to building a professional domestic medicinal cuisine supply chain system and a chain brand for nourishing food. "Young people nowadays are neither tolerant of heat nor cold, which is a sign of qi deficiency," says Xu Aiqin. After years of experience, she pondered how to make stew-based health preservation fashionable and align with the dining aesthetic of "dining alone without loneliness." She aimed to foster a dietary philosophy among more young people where "cooking a bowl of rice paired with a bowl of soup makes a simple, healthy meal ready." To achieve this, she established the Shibutang Food-Medicine Homology R&D Center to provide customers with a high-quality supply system. The pre-made dish series she launched in 2022, including nourishing medicinal soups and yellow croaker dishes, not only gained popularity among young people but also increased the exposure of "Dachen Yellow Croaker."

As an important member of Taizhou's catering enterprises, Xu Aiqin expressed her commitment to actively respond to Taizhou's call to build a "World Capital of Gastronomy." She plans to combine "health-preserving" stews with the unique flavors of local "Taizhou cuisine," helping "Taizhou cuisine" gain fame far and wide.

Passing on with Heart, Contributing with Love

As a member of the CPPCC Jiaojiang District Committee representing the industrial and commercial circles, Xu Aiqin deeply feels the honor and weight of her mission. During the covid pandemic era, her two catering enterprises, Shibutang and Baiguyuan, provided hundreds of free late-night snacks daily to anti-epidemic personnel for a consecutive week. For several years, Xu Aiqin has also been fulfilling "micro-wishes" in her community and partnering to support impoverished students in Ebian, Sichuan. She says, "Where there is love in the world, warmth springs up everywhere. I am willing to contribute my modest strength to better give back to society."

On March 29, 2022, to promote and disseminate intangible cultural heritage traditional skills, Xu Aiqin visited Peking University Affiliated High School Taizhou Feilonghu Campus. She delivered a public welfare class on traditional nourishing food preparation techniques for the students. Xu Aiqin recommended dietary lists and, drawing from her experience identifying and gathering herbs, explained which common herbal plants in daily life can be used in soups and how to pair suitable ingredients to cook delicious soups that are both tasty and nourishing.

On June 1 of the same year, under the joint organization of the Economic Committee and the Social and Legal Affairs Committee of the CPPCC Jiaojiang District Committee, Xu Aiqin and several other committee members planned an event. They invited children from 12 families of medical workers from Taizhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine who fought on the anti-epidemic frontlines to make loving treats—snow skin fruit pies. These were then gifted to all the children at the Peizhi School (a school for intellectually disabled children), spending a happy Children's Day together and passing on love.

Xu Aiqin stated, "As a member of the CPPCC, in my future work, I will continue to leverage my expertise and strengths, diligently perform my duties, and exemplify the demeanor of a committee member."

Translator：Jiayang Lin