Cycling Yangshuo's country roads is the best way to appreciate the foods and farming lore of the limestone karst studded landscape.
I hooked up with Bike Asia on a food lover's ultimate Chinese cuisine ride through the Yangshuo countryside.
Self-sufficient farmers harvest produce from their fields and invite tourists into their homes to sample the dishes arising from their labors.
Rice, the staple of Southern China, creates a sea between the karsts that changes from lime-green at planting to yellow at harvest.
Served with every meal, rice is transformed each morning into mifen noodles, sold fresh till mid-day. The signature breakfast of the region, Guilin Mifen, is served with shaved-pork, peanuts, pickles, chili and chives.
Yangshuo town has great mifen, but recommended on the countryside bike ride are the Baisha markets near Yulong Qiao, accessible by bike through the Yulong valley (or a 3 yuan bus from the Yangshuo bus station).
A farmer's diet is completely seasonal. As autumn leads to winter in Yangshuo, water chestnuts are almost ready for harvest.
Lao Huang, a Chaolong village farmer, peels a single chestnut pulled from a cluster in the mud growing beneath dark green reed stems.
Water chestnuts are used in soups, and also to add crunch to dumplings, or even more simply stir fried together with tomatoes and peppers.
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