The Yunnan Cookbook: Recipes from China's land of ethnic diversity Hardcover – November 7, 2014 by Annabel Jackson and, Linda Chia (Blacksmith Books)

These days it's easier to sample the cooking of the Dai and Naxi as they've opened restaurants in Jinghong and Lijiang, but if you want to try their dishes at home then this book is the key. ... It's beautifully illustrated with location photographs by San Lin and, as you turn the pages, you really get a sense of the region. Recipes are interspersed with snatches of travelogue and it brought back fond memories of my time in Lijiang, Kunming, Dali Lake and Xishuangbanna. ... The recipes are clear, with many dishes illustrated with mouth-watering pictures and, best of all, they work. It's good to see ethnic food traditions of China being championed and this is a valuable contribution to the Chinese culinary scene. 

The customs and traditions of some of China’s minorities based in southwest Yunnan are under threat, as modernization and tourism creep in. A new cookbook spotlighting cuisine from this diverse southwestern province aims to help preserve their culinary traditions. The Yunnan Cookbook: Recipes from China’s Land of Ethnic Diversity mixes recipes with colorful descriptions of the many ethnic minorities and styles of cooking that make up China’s most diverse region. ... In addition to recipes, the book offers vignettes from daily life — from a breakfast in a Tibetan village to a flower festival to profiles of local chefs. 

If you mention Yunnan to the average food lover, the chances are they'll know the province is famous for three things: ham, mushrooms and crossing-the-bridge noodles. In their book, Annabel Jackson and Linda Chia aim to show us that Yunnan cuisine is much broader than we think. Some of the more unusual dishes include potato rice; pumpkin pancakes; fried Yunnan goat cheese with tomato salsa; Naxi stir-fried potatoes with pickled vegetables; steamed taro and broccoli with grated carrot; mint and pomelo salad; sour-spicy fish and tomato soup in clay pot; aromatic lemon honey chicken; roasted bell peppers stuffed with pork and tofu; and twice-cooked pork belly with kumquats.