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Kunming food is famous for various kinds of dishes most of which are based on noodles, chicken, rice cake, and smoked tofu (smoked smelly bean curd). Kunming, which is the largest city and capital of Yunnan, located in South West region of China, basically follows the culinary trend prevailing in Yunnan, where the food is quite spicy.

Food in Kunming: Commonly Used Ingredients

  • Mushrooms are seen prominently in almost all dishes of Kunming.

  • Also, flowers are used extensively in the cuisine of Kunming, with the two popular products consisting of pu-erh tea (produced in Simao) and Xuanwei ham. The latter is commonly used in adding flavor to stewed Chinese foods, along with preparing broths and stocks of Chinese soup.

Popular Foods from Kunming Cuisine

  • Steam Pot Chicken– this dish is made in a distinct kind of double-boiler, in which the steam is allowed to enter the pot positioned at top where chicken is placed, thus, allowing the chicken and other ingredients (ginger being the essentially used flavorful ingredient) to be steam cooked properly, where both nutritive value and the flavor of the dish are maintained.

  • Er Kuai (Ric Cake)– high quality rice cooked and pressed in a special kind of shape to form a cake, where the cake takes the shape of the pressed rice, where the cake is quick fried, roasted or boiled before serving it with marmalade.

  • Smoked tofu– this Kunming food item refers to bean curd which is smoked over charcoal fire. It is a famous snack item.