Xiamen cuisine is a representative of South Fujian cuisine, which tastes fresh and sweet and is good at cooking of seafood. Common seasoning such as shrimp oil and shrimp sauce is added to make it taste fresher. The common cooking techniques include heating up, steaming, frying, simmering and stewing. Cooking with distilled grains is also one characteristic of South Fujian cuisine. The most famous dishes include stewed seafood and poultry, seafood with soy sauce and scalded octopus unique to Xiamen.

Xiamen has a great variety of snacks, such as oyster omelet, worm jelly, thread noodle soup, glutinous rice dumpling with pork and sweet peanut soup which are local and noodles with satay sauce which is introduced from Southeast Asia. Besides, for the reason of South Putuo Temple, vegetarian dish and vegetarian cake have also become a specialty of Xiamen. The vegetarian cake is the best choice of gift. Zhongshan Road is a gathering place for time-honored brands and various snacks. So if you like snacks, you can't miss it.

With a beautiful environment, Xiamen has become a holidaying resort for the youth and has witnessed the emerging of various milk tea stores, cafes and yoghurt and dessert stores, which have also become a specialty of Xiamen.