Flower Banquet

Yunnan Province is known as the Kingdom of Flowers. Yunnan's climate, which is often described as spring all year round, is ideal for growing many kinds of flowers, and the province has a great abundance of them. There are about 2,500 kinds of ornamental flowers in Yunnan.

But in Yunnan, flowers are not only ornamental, but they are also a popular food ingredient. Flowers are used as food in a great variety of ways in Yunnan.

Roses are particularly favored. Roses are cherished all over the world as one of the most beautiful flowers, but in Yunnan they are also appreciated as food, with sweet flavor, pleasant fragrance, beautiful color and nutritional benefits. The rose is used in many different kinds of dishes, including rose cake, rose jam, rose candy, rose hotpot and fried rose petals.

Even the aroma of flowers has health benefits. Wang Yi, director of the Nutrition Department with Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, says, "The fragrance of flowers can open up energy channels in the liver. The aroma is soothing, and can help people adjust their spirits."

In times when food was scarce, flowers were discovered to be an easily accessible food source. Now they continue to be valued as a good food source. Creative Yunnan people have found many ways to introduce flowers to the menu. The flower feast is a special experience characteristic of Yunnan.

The earliest written record of flowers being served as food is in Li Sao ("The Lament"), a series of poems written by Qu Yuan, a poet who lived during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).

Resourceful Yunnan people have found many ways to use the abundant flowers of the province not only for their beauty but for their flavor and nutritional value.

Many kinds of flowers are utilized by the chefs of Yunnan in their creative dishes, including Thailand orchis, jasmine flowers, yellow chrysanthemums, cucumber flowers, begonias, magnolia, sophora davidii flowers, banana flowers, pomegranate flowers, tangli flowers, peach flowers, gourd flowers, lilies and leek flowers.

Flowers are eaten throughout China, but Yunnan is the capital of flower cuisine. Chenggong county in Kunming has the largest flower markets in all of China.