Yuan Mei's Suiyuan Shidan 隨園食單 may be considered the most important recipe in traditional China, and the most important reference book for modern chefs. However, the greatest value of Suiyuan Shidan does not lie in its dietary details, but in its tendency to present literature, the art and the literati. Such tendency reflects the special esthetics of life among the intellectuals since the late Ming dynasty. This article attempts to discuss this issue, and tries to compare Suiyuan Shidan with other recipes such as Xianqing ouji 閒情偶寄 and Xingyuan lu醒園錄.