Yunnan Cooking

Yunnan has more altitude, more rain and more ethnic groups than anywhere else in China, and the food follows. Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles arrive as a bowl of very hot broth sealed under a film of oil, with raw sliced meat, quail egg and greens added at the table to cook in it. The summer rains bring wild mushrooms to the markets by the crate, matsutake among them, along with boletus that has to be cooked right through, which local kitchens take seriously. In the Bai and Yi areas rubing, a firm goat cheese, is grilled in slabs. Dai cooking near the southern border runs sour and herbal: bamboo shoot, lemongrass packed into grilled fish, rice steamed in pineapple.

What you actually see

• Crossing-the-bridge noodles - raw slices cooked at the table in a bowl of scalding broth.
• The mushroom markets - crates of wild fungi from June to September, sorted by variety and grade.
• Grilled rubing - slabs of goat cheese browned over charcoal, a Bai and Yi speciality.
• Dai food - sour bamboo shoot, lemongrass-stuffed fish and sticky rice near the southern border.

When to go

Mushroom season runs with the summer rains, roughly June to September, and is the reason to time a trip. Otherwise spring and autumn are drier and easier for moving around a large province. Kunming's markets are morning trade. Dai food is best eaten in Xishuangbanna rather than in a northern copy of it.

Honest expectations

Mushroom prices spike in season and matsutake is largely exported at prices no local pays. Undercooked wild boletus sends people to hospital every summer, which is exactly why kitchens overcook it. Crossing-the-bridge sets sold to tour groups are big, lukewarm and dull. Insects and flowers on menus are not a gimmick here.

Nearby

The Stone Forest and the terraces at Yuanyang are both reachable from the Kunming line.