Xiangwei zayong 鄉味雜詠

Xiangwei zayong 鄉味雜詠 is a collection of poems on the southeastern cuisine written during the late Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Shi Hongbao 施鴻保 (1804-1871), courtesy name Kezhai 可齋, from Qiantang 錢塘 (i.e., Hangzhou 杭州, Zhejiang). He failed several times in the provincial examinations and thereupon served several military commanders as a secretarial officer. During that time (1824 through 1861) he travelled a lot and thus gained impressions of the local cuisine and the "tastes of the villages" (xiangwei 鄉味). Shi also wrote a book on Fujian, Minzaji 閩雜記.

The first version of the book was finalised in 1858 and included one hundred short poems (jieju 絕句) on the Fukienese cuisine. Until 1861, Shi compiled a book of 2 juan which included more than 300 poems. The first fascicle, with 173 poems, was especially dedicated to dishes of Fujian that were unknown in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The second part of the collection praises meals that were common in all three regions. The second juan, however, is lost, and only the manuscript of the first part of Shi's collection survives. It is owned by the Beijing Library 北京圖書館.

Shi Hongbao's book is remarkable not only because it focuses on a rather neglected part of China's culinary landscape, but also because it preserves many traditional preparation methods knowledge of which was lost. Third, as the title says, the poems reflect the unrefined and genuine customs of the villages. For each poem, a paragraph of explanation is added through which the reader can understand the meaning of the specific methods described poem - not to speak of the spiritual enjoyment of Shi's poetry.