Which Chinese soup is named after the idea that even a Buddha would jump over a wall to eat it?

The Chinese soup named after the idea that even a Buddha would jump over a wall to eat it is Buddha jumps over the wall.

Also called Buddha’s Temptation or fotiaoqiang, this luxurious dish comes from Fuzhou in Fujian cuisine. It is a rich soup or stew traditionally containing ingredients such as sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin, fish maw, scallops, quail eggs, chicken, pork tendon, Jinhua ham, mushrooms, ginseng, and bamboo shoots. Recipes can include dozens of ingredients and may take one or two days to prepare.

The name refers to the dish’s enticing aroma. One popular origin story says that its smell tempted vegetarian Buddhist monks to leave their monastery; a poet supposedly remarked that even Buddha would jump over the wall for a taste. Several competing origin stories exist, so the exact invention is uncertain.

It is often mistaken for an ordinary shark fin soup, but shark fin is only one possible ingredient, and modern versions may omit it because of sustainability and animal-welfare concerns.