Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a scholar who studied hard in the South Lake Zhongting, and his wife had to cross the bridge to deliver meals to the scholar every day. One day, the wife felt that her husband was very hard, so she stewed a chicken and put it in a clay pot for her husband to eat. However, something happened on the way and it was delayed. When she came back, she found that the chicken in the casserole was still hot. When she opened it, she found a thick layer of butter on it, so she made rice noodles for her husband with chicken oil. After eating, the scholar was full of praise. Because his wife has to cross the bridge to deliver meals in Nanhu every day, the scholar named it "crossing the bridge rice noodles".

Crossing the bridge rice noodles has a history of more than one hundred years. Originated from Mengzi in southern Yunnan. Legend has it that Nanhu Lake in Mengzi County is beautiful in its old appearance, and scholars often attack books and read poems here. There is a man named Yang Xiucai who often goes to Hu Xin Pavilion to study, and his wife delivers meals there. Scholars study hard, often forget to eat, and even often eat cold meals and cold dishes, making their bodies more and more tired. His wife was anxious and distressed, so she killed the hen at home, stewed it in a casserole and sent it to him. When she went to collect the dishes again, she saw that the food was intact and her husband was still reading. I have to take the food back and reheat it. When she picked up the casserole, she found it was still very hot. She lifted the lid. It turns out that the surface of the soup is coated with chicken oil, and the ceramic utensils do not transfer heat, so the heat is sealed in the soup. In the future, his wife will keep warm in this way, and some rice, vegetables and sliced meat will be cooked in hot chicken soup and served to her husband while it is hot. Later, many people imitated her innovative cooking skills, and the cooked rice noodles were really delicious. Because Yang Xiucai has to cross a small bridge from his home to the pavilion in the middle of the lake, everyone calls this way of eating "crossing the bridge rice noodles".