In Quanzhou, local banquets are not held in restaurants, but by grandma's stove.
Tell her one day in advance what you'd like to eat—vinegar-braised pork trotters, oyster omelet, fried vinegar-marinated meat... Auntie will assess whether it's "too heaty" (a Hokkien health warning).
Shopping at the wet market with my aunt, she'd say, "Fish gills must be bright red like rouge, and oysters should have a fresh sea smell when opened." She didn't haggle with words; she'd just scrape the fish scales twice with her fingernail, and the vendor would automatically lower the price.