A young lady tries a worm dish at a Yunnan-style restaurant in Beijing on November 1, 2007. "Worm dishes" are quite popular lately among white-collar girls in the city. (Photo: ic.eastday.com)

    BEIJING, Nov. 2-- Steamed stick insect, sweet saute chrysalis, fried grasshopper -- these unique "worm dishes" have had a resurgence in popularity among white-collar women in Beijing.

    The dishes are actually part of the cuisine of southwestern China's Yunnan Province, an area that is home to quite a number of insects.

    In Beijing, restaurants serving Yunnan-style food are frequently visited by white-collar girls who are eager to try the latest culinary trend.

    "I've tried all kinds of worm dishes, and I've fallen in love with them," a young woman told the "Beijing Evening News."

    "Why do we eat worms? Because they are good for our health, especially our skin," she said.

    A manager of a Yunnan-style restaurant in Beijing said that every week customers eat nearly fifty kilograms of insects, which are carried here by air from Yunnan.

    These special dishes contain nutritional components such as protein, amino acids, vitamins and fatty acids, according to research done by the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science at Kunming Medical College.

    However, consuming too much "worm nutrition" may not be healthy since the dishes are often fried, said doctors with the Nutrition Department at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

    

A young lady tries a worm dish at a Yunnan-style restaurant in Beijing on November 1, 2007. "Worm dishes" are quite popular lately among white-collar girls in the city. (Photo: ic.eastday.com)