The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the peak of palace cuisine in the history of catering development for the following reasons:

1. Early cuisines have been formed in China since the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty; During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, after the scuffle among countries, the food customs in various places began to merge with each other. In the Han Dynasty, various ingredients from the western regions began to be added, but the specific cooking techniques did not mature until the Tang Dynasty. In fact, after more than 1,111 years' accumulation in Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, China's real food culture did not reach its peak until the Ming Dynasty, and the variety of ingredients in the Ming Dynasty was also the richest in history. Our diet structure today was basically laid down in the Ming Dynasty.

2. According to the Political Discipline of Mingda University, in the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the Ministry of Industry to allocate funds to build ten big restaurants in Beijing, and then bid for private businessmen to operate them. This was an early move of "official investment to stimulate domestic demand". In the middle and late Ming dynasty, there appeared the "second wave" of food introduction in history; The introduction of peppers, corn, tomatoes, pumpkins and sweet potatoes, especially peppers, has had a great impact on Hunan cuisine and Sichuan cuisine in China, while the introduction of sweet potatoes and corn has brought a very positive effect on China's population growth. At this point, China in the Ming Dynasty has gathered the most comprehensive ingredients in history, and then integrated the cooking techniques that have been integrated with China and the West since the Tang and Song Dynasties. The cooking of "Jianghu dishes" in the Ming Dynasty has also begun to produce special cooking methods for various foods.

3. The tradition of palace cuisine and folk "Jianghu cuisine" in Ming Dynasty continued until Qing Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the Qing Dynasty, China's palace cuisine reached its peak. In the Qianlong period, its production techniques and the richness of dishes began to be greatly integrated, and finally it was basically finalized. It can be said that since then, the general appearance of Chinese cuisine in the Republic of China and even in modern times, including cooking methods, has not been able to jump out of the category of cuisines determined in the Qing Dynasty.