"Being green" is the trendiest term for many restaurants to attract customers. The "green banquet" is ingrained in the ancient dietary tradition of the Jingpo ethnic people most of whom live in Dehong prefecture in the west of Yunnan province. Among the various rich menus of the Jingpos, one can find unsurprisingly that the Jingpo ethnic diet offers spicy but ungreasy flavours, and this may be the most striking feature that dominates the Jingpo ethnic catering.

The green banquet I once tried was organised three years ago under some giant luxuriant banyan trees in the Rare Treasures Garden of Mangshi--the capital city of Dehong. Paved with pine needles, the alfresco venue felt soft and gave out somewhat refreshing scent. The banquet was served on tables that are specially made from bamboo and cushioned with large green banana leaves. I had ever heard about the Street Banquet of the Hani people in Honghe prefecture in the south of Yunnan, but to me the green banquet was a surprise.

All the food were cooked elsewhere and wrapped in leaves when served at the banquet, all green except the soup served in a large bowl. There were no small bowls, no plates, and no wine sets--the needed wine sets were made from bamboo.

All green
The green banquet has been circulating among the Jingpo ethnic people for a long time, appearing quaint but somewhat wild. A great variety of food materials have been fetched from the wild, and prepared by roasting, boiling, frying and pickling etc--but held in green leaves when served just as its name indicates.

All the food at the banquet was served by young Jingpo ethnic members dressed in their traditional costumes. There are some most enjoyed dishes I once tried at the banquet, which are:

Pestled dish

Roasted meat, bamboo shoots and some other ingredients, such as fruits of bitter nightshade, are pestled together in a bamboo tube. The dish is deemed a wonder of the Jingpo ethnic diet, and tastes fragrant but a little bitter.

Jingpo chicken

Normally titled "Jingpo ghost chicken", this dish is in fact chicken prepared with lemon juice, chili, and cardamom etc. With lemony taste, it is a good appetiser.

Jingpo beef

The roasted beef is hammered with a wooden stick, tasting tender, fragrant but not greasy.

Zhefang rice

Grown in Zhefang basin of Mangshi City, this kind of high-quality rice was once paid to the imperial court as a tribute in the old times. In the 1950s, the State Council of China designated it as a specialty to entertain foreign guests.