Kunming delicacies captivate tourists

During the Dragon Boat Festival, Yunnan's capital city Kunming experienced a tourism peak, with its diverse food culture shining as a key attraction.

 Nanqiang Street Night Market, in the heart of Kunming, mixes the flavors of Yunnan's most popular dishes with the vibrant cuisines of Southeast Asia. This bustling market also sells traditional folk crafts, ethnic clothing, and household products. Yunnan BBQ, soft rice noodle rolls, and Dai-style chicken feet salad embody the city's culinary philosophy of balancing salty, sweet, and spicy flavors.

Mr. Wang, a visitor from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, spent the day seeing Kunming's city center. His morning began at an old-fashioned rice noodle shop near Green Lake Park. He next went to Henglong Plaza, where he ate bridge-crossing rice noodles and explored a coffee shop. The afternoon was spent sipping tea at a street-side teahouse near the Jinma-Biji Archway, and his day ended at the thriving Nanqiang Street night market. "Kunming's relaxing pace and cozy cafes make it easy to feel at home," said Wang.

During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Kunming's wet markets attracted numerous visitors seeking out delicious food. At the Yunnan Mushuihua wild mushroom trading center, the unique fragrance of mushrooms like matsutake entices food lovers.

Ms. Zhang, a tourist from Guizhou, came early to buy matsutake to send to her friends and family back home. "It's very convenient to select, package, and mail them all in one go. We had wild mushroom hotpot in Kunming yesterday, and it was delicious," she said.

The Zhuanxin Wet Market is a feast for tourists' senses. It features traditional stalls selling vegetables, fruits, and seafood, specialty coffee shops, milk tea stores, and cultural and creative shops. Delicacies like grilled cheese, litsea chicken feet, and tofu pudding rice noodles satisfy tourists' appetites.

"Kunming's old streets and markets carry the cultural memories of the city and fully showcase the essence of Yunnan," said a food blogger who has lived in Kunming for eight years. "In recent years, Kunming has created a series of new business formats and scenarios for cultural and tourism consumption, meeting tourists' diverse leisure and consumption needs."

Source: Kunming Daily; trans-editing by Guo Yao