Starting from the first day of this month, it will go through until Feb. 15.

According to the park's publicity department, the festival presents not only diverse types of food from the various ethnic groups, it also showcases their different cuisine culture.

A total of four venues in the park were put together to help stage this event. The food ranges from snacks to pastries to barbecues.

"This is a rare chance when you can taste almost all the ethnic foods from throughout China," said a tourist.

Besides eating, tourists are also able to watch how the ethnic cooks make the different types of food. Sometimes they are also asked to participate in cooking.

"It's a food experience and also a cultural one," said another guest.

In a forum devoted to the village of Yi, guests are entertained with Yi-style shows and also invited to dance and play games with the ethnic performers.

One Yi specialty is their various kinds of rice wine. One famous custom of the Yi people is that a group of people share a jar of rice wine with each person drinking through a wheat straw.

(Southcn.com February 12, 2003)