On the morning of August 8, the 2025 service consumption season activity - the "Belt and Road" Food Tourism Industry Exchange Conference and the launch ceremony of the Kunming Ethnic Style Food Consumption Season were held at the Dianchi International Convention and Exhibition Center. The event aims to further promote Chinese food culture, promote the inheritance and innovation of local specialty dishes, gather the strength of the food industry development, stimulate the vitality of the catering market, promote the deep integration and development of the ethnic food and cultural tourism industry, and continuously expand the popularity and influence of Yunnan ethnic specialty catering in the country.

The theme of this event is "Together to seek common development and discuss the flowers on the Silk Road", vigorously displaying the advantages of characteristic ethnic food and cultural tourism resources in Yunnan Province and Kunming City, promoting the upgrading and high-quality development of Kunming's catering industry, realizing the dual value-added between economy and culture, further attracting the attention of international and domestic tourists, and conveying the charm and vitality of national food culture through food narratives.

At the same time, during the event, catering enterprises, industry associations and experts and scholars from provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities across the country were invited to Kunming to build a cooperation platform for technology exchange and market expansion, and strive to leave a number of projects with sustained impact and sustainable development for Kunming through investment promotion, further enhance the popularity and reputation of urban food, and drive the development of related industries.

Shilin National Specialty Food Industry Inspection to Help the Coordinated Development of Culture and Tourism

After the launching ceremony, representative guests of the catering industry were invited to Shilin to conduct an inspection of the ethnic specialty food industry. The inspection team visited Yunnan Qicai Meiyi National Crafts Co., Ltd., Yunnan Yuncai Jinke Astaxanthin Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and Nostalgia Four Rhymes (Yunnan) Cultural Center. Yunnan Qicai Meiyi National Crafts Co., Ltd. was established in 2012. It is a "one-stop" large-scale cultural industry complex integrating sightseeing, on-site shopping, cultural and creative research and development, production, talent training, and study experience. The main business is to sell ethnic craft bags, home accessories, ethnic clothing, embroidery and other handicrafts to domestic and foreign markets. It is the "leading enterprise of ethnic folk handicrafts" evaluated by Yunnan Province in 2018.

Taking the labor brand of "helping rural revitalization and building the Shilin Sani embroidery" as an important starting point, Qicai Meiyi cultivates the Yi Sani embroidery entrepreneurship and employment base, drives the people to find employment nearby, engages in the inheritance and production of sewing, embroidery, weaving, and ethnic clothing skills, so that the poor can achieve employment and increase income and become rich at their doorstep.

"We have always adhered to the development concept of 'product quality is the life of the enterprise'. The company's laboratory invested more than 5 million yuan and had a technology R&D center. Quality inspection covers physical and chemical, microbial, and precision instrument testing, etc.." According to reports, Yunnan Yuncai Jinke Astaxanthin Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a modern food processing enterprise for plant extraction. The company relies on 100% investment and construction of the Yunnan Yusheng Red Chronicles production base invested and constructed in Taichuang Park in Shilin County. The project mainly builds Yusheng Red Chronicles drying processing production line, astaxanthin oil ethanol extraction production line, carbon dioxide supercritical extraction production line, microalgae technology research and development laboratory, health food production line, etc.

From delicious fruits and vegetables, to mellow tea, to exquisite handicrafts... The Four Rhymes of Nostalgia (Yunnan) Cultural Center relies on the location and tourism advantages of Shilin, and makes full use of the comprehensive functions of the whole-region tourism center and the urban library to create a comprehensive service center integrating leisure, entertainment, tourism consultation and cultural and agricultural specialty shopping, and a Shilin City Reception Room. Here we sell special agricultural products of Shilin to help the coordinated development of rural revitalization and tourism, provide locals in Shilin with outstanding gifts, and prepare exquisite and meaningful souvenirs for guests who travel to Shilin. Here you can easily purchase special products of Yunnan Shilin in one-stop.

"Pomegranate flowers bloom and fragrance spread across thousands of families" National Ethnic Specialty Food Joint Exhibition is in full swing

At the same time, the National Ethnic Specialty Food Joint Exhibition of "Pomegranate Flowers Blooming and Fragrance Floating Ten Thousands of Homes" was held in Shilin Ecological Park on the morning of the 8th. The joint exhibition is large in scale, with a total of 30 booths carefully selected, including 15 exhibitors in the province and 15 participating companies outside the province, gathering ethnic and intangible cultural heritage food from many places to create a feast that blends vision and taste for tourists, and helps the dissemination of ethnic food culture and the development of the catering industry.

Food from all over the world is gathered, and a dialogue between the north and the south is staged on the tip of the tongue. The "Nan" family in the Xinjiang exhibition area took the lead. After taking a bite, the roughness of the wind and sand in the desert and the delicateness of the dried fruits exploded in their mouths in an instant; the Guangxi booth was even more lively, and the pure handmade food of Guangxi Zhuang intangible cultural heritage, the horse-spice, the sticky and glutinous teeth, and the bowl of snail noodles, the "pulling" of sour bamboo shoots, the "fresh" of snail soup, and the "slimming" of rice noodles, directly moved the street fireworks on Guangxi to the scene. In order to allow friends who don’t like spicy food to taste it, the merchants at the Chongqing Sausage booth specially made sausages of different spicy and bright colors. After cutting them, the meat is solid and the oily and fragrant. More delicacies from different places are waiting for you to explore.

Wenshan rice and coarse grain products retain the nutrition to the greatest extent possible. Take a bite of brown rice cake, and the mellow aroma of the grain will spread in your mouth; the wild bacteria that make Yunnan people most proud are also unveiled in the form of soft packaging! The mountain delicacies such as chicken mushrooms, matsutake mushrooms, and boletus have been carefully processed into ready-to-eat styles, and you can taste the freshness of Yunnan's mountains and forests by opening a bag. It is understood that this joint exhibition will last until August 10, so friends who love food should not miss it.

The 2025 Third National Ethnic Specialty Food Skills Competition is passionately launched

On the 8th, the 2025 Third National Ethnic Specialty Food Skills Competition kicked off at Shilin Yinruilin International Hotel. Cooking masters from all over the country gathered together to launch a peak competition for national food skills.

This is not only a competition of skills, but also a vivid practice of the integration and mutual learning of national food culture. The competition is an individual competition. Participants need to make a dish that reflects the national cooking skills and traditional flavor on the spot, and an innovative dish made using local ingredients in Shilin (select any of the milk cakes, chicken mushrooms, and beef). The work is presented as 6 people (a separate dish is prepared) or two portions (each weight is 140g-160g), with a time of 90 minutes.

The event was very popular, and contestants from different ethnic groups and regions showed their unique skills and competed for creativity. They integrated the diet codes of their own ethnic groups into each dish, allowing the audience to immersively experience the "national custom on the tip of the tongue". The numerous works at the competition are gratifying. For example, "Baked Buns with Milk Cakes" cleverly combines regional characteristics and traditional craftsmanship, "Baked Red Buttons with Old Friends in Zhuang Township" conveys a strong local sentiment, "Roasted Duck with Lemongrass Sour Soup" shows the bold collision of flavors, and "Medicinal Trendy Beef Hotpot" reflects the modern interpretation of health concepts... All of these works are the brilliant crystals of the integration and symbiosis of national cultural genes in food.

As an important link in the inheritance and innovation of national ethnic food skills, the competition not only promoted the integration and symbiosis of food cultures of all ethnic groups, but also injected strong impetus into the high-quality development of the ethnic catering industry. After the competition, Su's enterprise Yang Li, Guoneng Yongfu Power Generation Co., Ltd. Wei Jing, Kunming Daguan Hotel Cunyihai won the special gold medal. (Kunming Information Port reporter Sun Hongliang)