Zhanjiang has innovatively cultivated the "1+N" integrated industrial development system since the "Cantonese Cuisine Chef" project was launched in 2018, including the "Cantonese cuisine chef + rural tourism" and "Cantonese cuisine chef + cooking culture" development modes.

Covering the fields of agricultural product sales and deep processing, catering, rural tourism, as well as ecological development, the development modes have advanced the city's efforts in poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.

On Dec 30, 2019, the Nanji Village Lighthouse Storytelling Gathering and the "Cantonese Cuisine Chef" Food Culture Salon were held at Nanji village, Jiaowei town of Xuwen, a county in Zhanjiang.

It provided a platform to showcase local excellent and featured ingredients, as well as to foster exchanges and communications between chefs from different places in the city.

"Cooking for so many years, I haven't gone out to see the world and had no idea of the dishes of the outside world," said a chef at a farm in Fangpo village of Jiaowei town. "This event gives me a chance to learn from chefs from other places."

To date, the Lighthouse Storytelling Gathering has been held three times. With the addition of food elements, the event has set up a new image of high-quality tourism projects in Xuwen and has attracted more people to visit Xuwen.

The training course of the "Cantonese Cuisine Chef" project is carried out at Zhilan village of Suixi county, Zhanjiang. [Photo by Lin Shizhan/Zhanjiang Daily]

The studio of Cantonese cuisine chef Gao Fei signed a long-term cooperation agreement with the vegetable base of Hutoupo village, a provincial poverty stricken village in Zhanjiang.

To date, the studio has purchased a total of 230,000 kilograms of vegetables from the village, with a total value of 1.17 million yuan ($169,244). It has helped lift the annual income of impoverished households in the village from 5,200 yuan to 11,000 yuan, helping lift all the village's 437 poverty-stricken families out of poverty.

Zhanjiang has been promoting the project over the last two years. To date, it has cultivated more than 3,500 Cantonese cuisine chefs, as well as realized 100 percent employment and entrepreneurship of these chefs.