The launch ceremony of the World Wheaten Foods Conference, a food television program of Shanxi Satellite TV, takes place in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, on April 13. The program is filmed in the province's Pingyao county, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a history dating back 2,700 years.[Photo/pingyao.gov.cn]

The World Wheaten Foods Conference, a food program of Shanxi Satellite TV, was launched in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, on April 13 to promote the reputation of Shanxi's wheaten foods.

The program will invite domestic and overseas catering institutions to hold various cooking shows, and to communicate and compete in various culinary skills in Pingyao county.

It will decide the top 10 wheaten foods brands from 40 catering companies through 12 cooking contests to be broadcast in May, where chefs along with their groups display food according to different themes.

The top 10 winners will be permanently allowed to sell their branded products at Chinese Cuisine Street in Pingyao. The program will also plan and organize special promotion events for the top ten brands.

With demonstrations of various branded wheaten foods, the TV program aims to promote Shanxi's wheaten foods and culture as well as grow the local catering industry.

"The World Wheaten Foods Conference provides a good chance to further national and global recognition of Pingyao and advance local tourism. We will also foster the wheaten foods industry throughout the county in the meantime," said Shi Yong, a top official of Pingyao county.

Known as "the hometown of Chinese wheaten foods", North China's Shanxi province has developed quite a few kinds of wheaten foods, such as knife-sliced noodles and decorated steamed buns (huamo) over the past 2,000 years.