Sitting in the inland areas in southwest China, Chengdu has been named as the Land of Abundance since ancient times because of its vast fertile lands and abundant agricultural produces. The unique geographical conditions and rich historical culture have helped Sichuan cuisine become distinctive in China. As one of the eight famous cuisines in China, Sichuan Cuisine is known for a great variety of tastes depicted as that each dish has its flavor and a hundred dish features a hundred different tastes. Some of the dishes such as Mapo Toufu, Double Cooked Pork, and Gongpao Chicken have become known around the world.

Sichuan Culinary Museum, which is located in the ancient Gucheng village of Pidu District, is an eco-museum with culinary culture as its exhibition theme. Here you can see the cooking utensils used from Warring States(475-221B.C.) to the modern times; you can experience the process of making Pixian Chili Bean Paste, known as the soul for Sichuan Cuisine; here you can learn some folk culture such as The Shrine for the Kitchen King; you can also observe the skillful cooking of the Sichuan Cuisine chefs and taste classic Sichuan Cuisine.

Sitting close to Sichuan Culinary Museum, Yunqiao Wetland is one of the important conservation sites for drinking source water, where 80% of the drinking water flows through here. With a sound ecological environment, the wetlands have over 600 hundred wildlife species. Our visit to these wetlands helps us understand the important relationship between people and nature.

▲ Classic Sichuan Cuisine and unique dim sum

Led by a teacher from Sichuan Culinary Museum and a natural teacher from ApandaTour, we will understand the history of Sichuan Cuisine with hands-on experience of making Sichuan cuisine and sample classic Sichuan cuisine and unique dim sum. At the same time, we will go to Yunqiao Source Water Conservation Site to learn the wetlands system and its roles, observe the common birds in the wetlands and learn about the wetlands conservation methods.

▲ Bird Species in Yunqiao Wetland

Trip Targets

1. Acquire fresh knowledge：Though on-site visits and hands-on experience, we will learn actual knowledge that can not be acquired from books, know more about the profound culinary culture of Sichuan Cuisine. We learn about the wildlife in wetlands through our visit to the important source water site;

2. Know more about local culture：The unique style of Sichuan Cuisine comes from the unique natural and geographical environment in Sichuan Basin, Sichuan Cuisine shows the relationship between people and nature. We will know more about Sichuan culinary culture through our activities specially made for this trip;

3. Raise the awareness for environmental protection：Come to know the important roles played by wetlands to nature and people and raise our awareness for wetlands protection.

▲ Production Area of Pixian Chili Bean Paste

Trip Highlights

1. Visit Sichuan Culinary Museum, get to know about the traditional dining, drinking, and cooking utensils, and have hands-on experience of turning the stone mills to grind soaked soybeans to make toufu;

2. Experience the unique art of making Pixian Chili Bean Paste;

3. Visit the Shrine of Kitchen King, and learn about the unique cooking culture and related rites, taste classic Sichuan Cuisine and various dim sum;

4. Learn how to make panda dumplings and making instant chili bean paste;

5. Visit Chengdu Source Water Site and know the ecological system of wetlands and their roles;

6. Learn how to observe birds and get to know the common wetlands birds.

▲ The past activities in Sichuan Culinary Museum

▲ Sichuan Culinary Museum

▲ Tour Map

The hour-by-hour itinerary of one day trip

08:30-08:40 Meet in a designated place in Chengdu.

08:40-10:00 Board our car to Sichuan Culinary Museum.

10:00-10:30 The Sichuan Culinary Museum has a collection of over one thousand cooking utensils and 6,000 artifacts related to Sichuan Cuisine including the most valuable one, a Pickle Jar made in the Kangxi period(1662-1722A.D.) of the Qing Dynasty. Here we will learn how Sichuan Cuisine started, evolved, developed, and eventually come into its style. From this, we can learn the surviving wisdom owned by the people who lived in this land. 

10:30-11:00 Hand-on experiences of making Pixian chili bean paste in the traditional way with a history of 300 years as well as how to make Zhongba soy sauce. Enjoy the show of breath-taking cutting skill by a cook with eyes covered, cutting silk-like noodles with covered eyes, and learn the profound culinary culture of Sichuan Cuisine.

11:00-12:00 Get to know the tools used in raw material processing and have a hands-on experience of grinding soaked soybeans for making tender toufu, observe the cooking show by a master chef, learn the process of cutting raw material, handling the cooking heat and serving the dish before we head on to the Shrine of Kitchen King to know the unique culture of worshiping the Kitchen King in China.

12:00-13:30 After lunch, we will go to a street featuring Sichuan Cuisines and enjoy the unique architectural style of west Sichuan.

13:30-14:00 Hand-on class(Panda dumplings and instant chili bean paste, OK to bring them home), and summarize activities.

14:00-14:30  Board our bus and go to Yunqiao Wetlands ——the source water site of Chengdu.

14:30-16:30 Visit the source water site and learn about the relative knowledge of wetlands and the rivers in Chengdu, observe the typical birds in wetlands such as Little Egret and Little Grebe, and think about the relationship between wetlands birds and nature.

16:30-18:00 Return to Chengdu by our bus.

▲ Photos taken in our past trips

Location： Sichuan Culinary Museum and Yunqiao Wetland

Date： September 10th, 2023

Target Participants： Family with children above 6 or only children above 8

Trip Size：12-24 pax, minimum 12 pax

Price：60USD/pax(same price for children and adults)

The price includes： the service of a private tour bus from Chengdu and back, entrance tickets, lunch during the trip, service charges for teachers, activity design and material preparation for the class, and travel insurance

The price does not include: any personal expenses and any items not specified as being included in the itinerary

Transportation：A private registered tour bus for the whole trip.

Food：Lunch at Sichuan Culinary Museum.

Safety Measures：

1. All around process control and safety check before the start of the trip.

2. Staff with AHA first aid certificate and first aid kit during the whole trip.

3. Detailed rules and reminders for the trip and ensure all the participating parents and children know them.

4. Measures for epidemic prevention: we will prepare epidemic prevention materials such as surgery masks, pure alcohols, hand sanitizer, and thermometer. We will have a temperature check before the start of our trip activities.