Putian's cuisine — Xinghua cuisine — is distinct from both Fujianese Hokkien cooking and inland Hakka food. Xinghua rice noodles (莆田米粉, hand-pressed into fine strands) are the most important local staple and appear in soups, stir-fried dishes, and cold preparations. Oysters and clams from the coastal flats are excellent and sold cheaply at the fish markets along the waterfront. The local cooking style is lighter than Hakka food but more intensely flavoured than the subtle preparations of Fuzhou — garlic, dried seafood, and preserved vegetables appear in many dishes.