It's no secret that I loved my recent trip to Yunnan, China. I loved all the Chinese minorities that were there and their awesome traditions. The Naxi people know how to do it. They have a matriarchal society. Basically the women run everything and are in charge and the men just kinda chill and don't do much all day. Sounds like heaven. They also don't speak Mandarin Chinese. They have their own dialect and their writing system looks kind of like a sort of hieroglyphics. The food of course was amazing. I think if I start working on my farming skills one day I can join the Naxi too! I seriously loved their culture. Wish I could go on and on about them but that's for another blog. Let's keep this all food!

Here we are in the city of Kunming. This is the meal I had been looking forward to my whole trip and lucky for me it was our 1st stop! Literally translated to crossing bridge noodles, 过桥米线.

According to legend (at least the version I know), a scholar many many years ago was studying for his imperial exams. His wife would bring him noodles and little ingredients such as the kind you see above. She would have to cross the bridge to get there. Unfortunately, by the time she prepared her noodles and soup and got the soup to him, it would turn cold. She eventually figured that when she separated the ingredients and soup and combined them just before eating, a thin layer of oil would rise to top and keep the soup and noodles warm. She had to cross the bridge to him everyday, hence the name crossing the bridge noodles.

(This awesome pic was stolen from my friend taken with his SLR camera) Everyone got to make their soup base themselves and add spice. Some broths were quite plain, brothy looking and others were bright red like so.