Last year he brought handmade Turkish ornaments to the One Belt and One Road Hall of the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair. This year he brought two large refrigerators, a grill and boxes of snacks.

“Our exhibition was not as well-received last year. Everybody was showcasing handicrafts and I thought I needed to find a way to stand out,” said Ahmet Yarim, 32, a Turkish businessman who has spent 15 years in China, first going to college and then starting a career as well as a family.

“I found it was hard for the exhibitors and visitors here to have proper meals during the exhibition. So I brought these to offer them Turkish-style chicken or beef rolls made on the spot.”

Yarim is not disappointed this year, as hundreds of rolls have been sold in the past days. Exceptionally long queues form at noon and both Chinese and foreigners are fans of Yarim’s offerings. This year’s One Belt and One Road Hall is more like an international bazaar, with exhibitors from 35 countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative hawking their jewelry, ornaments, snacks, or wines. Yarim’s booth was the only one that offered food made on the spot.

Yarim, while bargaining with buyers at the booth in Chinese, told a reporter that he attended a Beijing college to learn Chinese and moved from Beijing to Guangzhou three years ago. He is also the general secretary of the Guangdong Turkish Businessmen Association. He said his association has roughly 40 members and they are mostly exporters, exporting Chinese-made products to other parts of the world.

“I feel that Chinese people’s craving for overseas food has been increasing,” he said. “So I opened a snack-making factory back in my hometown to make dried figs and nuts and then sell them to China. I should say I made a very good decision.”

Yarim said his factory’s annual sales have reached US$20 million and his products are mostly sold through e-commerce retailers in China.

“Nowadays people want natural and safe food more than ever. So I tried to make something authentic that caters to their needs,” he said. “All the figs are sun-dried and grown, processed and packed in Turkey.”

Yarim said Turkey is the largest agricultural country in Europe with a rich food culture and there is a lot more that his country can offer to Chinese people. Yarim and his partners are planning to open a Turkish restaurant in Guangzhou.

“I invested my youth in China and China is a country with great potential,” he said. Yarim said his children were born in the country and he plans to stay here over the long term.