LOCAL FOOD

Yunnan Cuisine, though not yet well known in the West, is one of the best regional eating experiences in China. Many dishes borrow hot, spicy
flavours from neighbouring Sichuan. Others, influenced by periodic migrations provinces such as Jiangsu,Zhejiang and Guangdong, reflect the subtle, rounded taste of eastern and southeast Chinese cuisine. The Year round availability and variety of vegetables provides a seemingly
limitless menu.


Xuanwei huotui
A strong, tasty, country-cured ham. Unlike in the rest of China,the Yunnanese appreciate certain dairy products. An excellent mild white cheese (rubing) is eaten fried or steamed in combination with ham or vegetables especially the tender, emerald-green horse beans (candou). In spring ans summer eels, caught in the wet rice fields, are great delicacy.

Mushrooms
Appear in great profusion when the rains let up in August . The most highly prized of the dozens of varieties are "chicken-tast mushroom"(jizong)and morel, called " Sheep-stomach mushroom " (yangduzi) . For vegetable lovers , Yunnan is a joy, Lotus root, bamboo shoots, tender young pea-sprouts, Chinese broccoli, beans of many types, green garlic shoots.

Steam Pot Chicken ( Qiguoji)
Yunnanese is the ceramic steam pot, a squat, round, lidded vessel with an internal spout, or chimmney, that allows steam to enter and circulate but not escape. Chicken cooked by this technique produces a superior soup entirely from steam and natural juices. This dish, called steam Pot Chicken (qiguoji) comes first on the list of Yunnan‘s specialities. A remarkable feature, which should not put anybody off, is the inclusion of natural medicinal ingredients used by the Chinese both to enhance flavour and to promote health. These might include
ginseng, herbs or dried Himalayan caterpillars.

Crossing - Bridge Rice Noodles (Guoqiao mixian)
Most famous flavour dishes in the province, came from a story in the southern Yunnan. A scholar, preparing for the imperial examinations. isolated himself on an island in a lake. His devoted wife was dismayed that meals she carried to him across a long, wooden bridge always arrived cold. But by chance, she
discovered the way to keep soup boiling hot was to top it with a thin layer of vegetable oil which prevented the spot without a stove. Of course, her husband passed the exams.