Beijing Imperial desserts, as the name suggests, consists of desserts once prepared exclusively for the imperial family.

Eight-Treasures Rice Pudding (Babaofan) is a well known traditional Chinese dessert, cooked with sticky rice and 8 different freshly dried fruits and nuts.

Cha Chan Teng (literally meaning tea restaurant in Cantonese) goes far beyond being a fast food choice for most Hong Kong people today; rather, it has become an indispensable part of the past living style with the richest local flavor, which is a collective memory planted deeply in Hong Konger's mind.

"Yum Cha" (飲茶) (literally meaning “drinking tea”) is originally a Cantonese custom of people having breakfast together with family or friends. In the past, people often enjoyed tea in old restaurants with a long history, also known as "neighboring restaurants" (茶寮). This kind of restaurant was built with simple and cheap decoration.Today the Cantonese came to the teahouse for different reasons. The working class usually have breakfast in these Cantonese restaurants in the early morning. Yum Cha is also an occasion when families often gather to visit each other on the weekends, when everyone has time from their busy schedules.

Just like pasta to Italy, noodle is the staple food for the people in Northern China.

People in Southern China have been drinking "cooling tea" for over two centuries. Due to their general healing benefits, herbalists use many ingredients to prepare their herbal teas. Today, these traditional teas still remain popular folk remedies in southern China. These natural fresh drinks are not only able to protect against climatic influences, but also aim at relieving aliments caused by stressful urban lifestyles.

The origins of fermenting and drinking wine in China go far back in time. Chinese ancestors either used wine as a libation to their forefathers to express reverence, or enjoined it by themselves while writing poetry, prose, or toasted their relatives and friends during a feast. Unlike Western wines, Chinese wine is distilled from rice, millet and other grains, as well as herbs and flowers.As to the sorghum based beverage, Maotai Liquor is honored the National Treasure in its kind. It has a production history of over 200 years.

There has been a long tradition for the Chinese to make preserved meat in the winter months. In fact there is a popular saying in China--“when the wind of winter blows, preserved meet is made.” Making preserved meet is also a custom for the Chinese New Year celebration, since in the past days when most of the Chinese still lived in poverty, pork was too luxurious to eat if it was not during the Chinese New Year.

Food in Xinjiang has much more of a Central Asian flavor than elsewhere in China. Many of the dishes use Turkish and Islamic spices and flavorings; Lambs are roasted and served whole; Pancakes are presented in the shape of a tower; and rice is eaten with the hands (though the staple food here is not rice).

Grapes were first grown in Turpan—an oasis town in the Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region—over 2,000 years ago, and together with Turpan melons and wines, soon became the region’s specialty products. Turpan grape was often presented as tribute to the Tang imperial court. Of the 100-odd grain strains in Turpan, the seedless white grapes are the most precious.