Maozai Seafood Porridge 猫仔粥
Maozai Seafood Porridge is featured among the local specialties of Fujian.
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Maozai Seafood Porridge (猫仔粥) is a seafood porridge from Zhangzhou (漳州), Fujian, cooked to order from fresh ingredients. The name means porridge for the cat, and the Zhangzhou municipal government's own guide points out that, despite what non-locals assume, it is not made with cat meat.
How it is made
Zhangzhou judges maozai porridge by its ingredients. Fujian Daily describes a bowl generous with ingredients and records the local view that seafood which is less than perfect does not deserve to go into the pot. The city guide stresses the same two things: fresh ingredients, and a bowl made on the spot and eaten straight away. One of the origin stories also describes the method, with fresh ingredients and rice swirled quickly through boiling broth and finished with good seasonings.
Flavour and texture
The rice grains are soft to chew and the broth drinks fresh and clean. The municipal guide calls the porridge fragrant and sweet-tasting, and a pot straight off the fire fills the room with its smell.
Where it comes from
The Zhangzhou government's old-town guide records at least three stories explaining why people eat a porridge named for a cat. In the first, set in Zhao'an (诏安) during the Qing dynasty, the eldest grandson of an official's family could not bear to see his new bride living on the household's leftovers. He kept kittens as an excuse and cooked her fresh porridge with fish, shrimp and meat, telling his grandmother it was food for the cats.
In the second story, the boy emperor of the fleeing Southern Song court and his ministers Lu Xiufu (陆秀夫) and Chen Yizhong (陈宜中) were given porridge made from a fishing-village household's scraps meant for the cat; an imperial cook later went back to learn it and sold it in southern Fujian (闽南). In the third, a cook in a wealthy household made porridge from leftover scraps of fish for a woman in his own family who had just given birth, and claimed it was cat food, until his employer tasted it and had it served at table.
More dishes to compare
Explore related local specialties and compare their names, preparation notes and ordering guidance.
Zhao'an Seafood Rice Soup 诏安猫仔粥 →
The first of the three origin stories recorded by the Zhangzhou city guide is set in Zhao'an, a county of Zhangzhou with its own version of the porridge.
Questions before you order
Does Maozai Seafood Porridge contain cat meat?
No. The name means porridge for the cat; the Zhangzhou municipal government's guide notes that people from elsewhere often assume it is made with cat meat, but it is a porridge of rice and fresh seafood.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.