Journey of Yunnan matsutake to the North Pole

Recently, Yunnan chef Su Qisheng promoted Yunnan matsutake mushrooms and other Yunnan cuisines through a special tour to the North Pole.     

In Shangri-la, northwest Yunnan’s Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the rainy season usually begins in July. In the early morning, Zhuoma, a local villager went into the mountain to pick up matsutake.

Though her trousers soon got wet with dew, Zhuoma searched every corner carefully. After about half an hour, she got something. "Look, there it is! A matsutake!" Zhuoma showed the big mushroom with great joy.

The mushrooms Zhuoma picked were sent on a journey to the Arctic with Su Qisheng, a Yunnan chef.

On July 18, Su Qisheng and his team flew to Moscow and transferred to an icebreaker. During the 14-day tour to the North Pole, Su cooked the crossing-the-bridge rice noodles and presented the matsutake cuisines in different ways for more than 200 explorers and staff on the ship. 

In his 20 years’ career as a chef, Su has won a number of international awards. He hoped that through integrating classic Yunnan dishes with western cooking ideas, he could demonstrate the inclusiveness of Yunnan cuisine and its charm to the world. 

Data shows that the annual output of matsutake in Diqing prefecture is 600 to 900 tons, accounting for more than 65% of the fresh matsutake exportation of Yunnan, which helps lift local people out of poverty. 

(Xiao Ao at the 927 Tour webpotal)