President Xi Jinping recently hosted Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan of Taiwan, who was born in Xi’an, and treated him to a menu of Shaanxi traditional dishes. They ate yangrou paomo, a lamb and unleavened bread soup seen above, biang biang mian, and roujiamo, three of the most popular dishes in Shaanxi cooking. News of their partaking of Lien’s hometown favorites has spread and gone viral (though maybe not to the extreme as this recent set menu craze in China). Local chefs in Xi’an have celebrated their meeting creating an honorary Xi-Lien dinner menu.

You can learn about these and other Shaanxi dishes by downloading China Tea Leaves 西安 Xi’an today.