Double-stewed soup, also known as Cantonese soup, is a traditional Cantonese staple with a history of thousands of years. Steamed over a slow fire for a long time, it is nourishing and tastes sweet. The soup is served before other dishes in almost all banquets in Guangzhou. 

Cantonese people are accustomed to drinking soup due to a hot and humid climate, and the type of soup changes with the seasons. The soup, together with herbal tea, has become a symbol of Cantonese food culture. 

The soup bases and cooking methods differ for various types of soups, and different types have different tastes and effects. For example, for donkey-hide gelatin, red dates and black-bone chicken soup, yam, tuckahoe and pigeon soup, and other types, the bases may be meat, eggs, seafood, vegetables, dried fruits, grains, or medicinal materials, and the cooking methods may be boiling, stewing or braising. The final taste may be salty, sweet, sour, or spicy, or an indefinable mixture of them all.