Taishan Three Beauties (Cabbage, Tofu, Water)

The "Taishan three beauties" are three local products—cabbage, tofu and spring water—which, simmered together as soup or dish, yield a clear, fresh, sweet and refreshing taste, the most regionally distinctive combination in Tai'an food.

Tai'an's clear spring water flows from Mount Tai; tofu set with this water is silken, and the cabbage it waters is crisp and sweet, giving rise to the saying of the "three beauties," a union that distils the place and produce of Tai'an.

Most often served as a cabbage-and-tofu soup simmered in Taishan spring water, light yet never flat, it clears the palate at banquets and is eaten alongside jianbing or stir-fried chicken to let the local ingredients speak.

The tofu set by Taishan spring water, the sweetness of spring-watered cabbage and the folk saying of the "three beauties" are its irreplaceable regional marks.