Specialty Foods are foods that are passed through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Specialty Foods are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national dish, regional cuisine or local cuisine. Also, it may be produced as homemade, by restaurants and small manufacturers, and by large food processing plant facilities.

Also, in cosmopolitan nations, clearly differentiated Specialty Food has been incorporated into Chinese urban life for centuries, but only some ethnicities’ food is represented as desirable or adventurous. Mongolian, Korean and Japanese food, food represented by named and known societies, has been popular for a long time, especially in north China where going out to eat Mongolian barbecue or Korean dishes may punctuate an otherwise culinarily Chinese life. The food of some ethnic groups is scorned as inedible and disgusting, such as the yak-butter tea of Tibetans or the coarse grains and sweet potatoes of poor ethnic groups in the southwest. Specialty Food serves as a marker of ethnicity in ethnic theme parks, as in Xishuang Banna, in southern Yunnan.