Food Photographer of the Year 2019 award given to Cauldron Noodles

The winning photograph shows Chinese villagers eating noodles in celebration of the goddess Nuwa

Chinese photographer Jianhui Liao wins Food Photographer of the Year 2019 award (Jianhui Liao)

A Chinese photographer has won the title of Food Photographer of the Year 2019 for his photo of people enjoying a feast of noodles.

Jianhui Liao took the award-winning photo, titled Cauldron Noodles, during a celebration of the goddess Nuwa's birthday in Shexian County in the Hebei Province, China.

The photograph, which features an overhead view of the community dressed in Qing Dynasty costumes gathering around a large pot of noodles, beat out 9,000 images from 77 countries.

As the winner of the annual Pink Lady Food Photographer competition, Liao, who shot the picture with a Sony 7RM2, was awarded a prize of £5,000. His photograph also won for the Food for Celebration category.

Photographer Jianhui Liao won the competition with Cauldron Noodles (Jianhui Liao)

Of the stunning photo, competition judge Andy MacDonald said: “It stood out from the rest in its category for the way in which [Liao] made the subject matter, a community feast, so beautiful and atmospheric.

“The competition was fierce, there were 9,000 images entered from 77 countries - more entries and more countries than ever before - and the standard was phenomenal.

You can see all the other winners from the competition in categories including Bring Home the Harvest, Food Bloggers, and Food for the Family here.