Since Lohan cuisine is a Buddhist fasting meal, the name of the dish comes from the eighteen Luohan, the disciples of Sakyamuni Buddha. When Shakyamuni Buddha passed away, he instructed the eighteen Luohan not to enter Nirvana, but to stay in the world forever and spread the Dharma, and the statues of the eighteen Luohan were enshrined in many famous mountains and ancient temples. Lohan dishes began in the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist temples selected a variety of vegetarian dishes as raw materials, generally to choose eighteen, and the "eighteen Luohan" the same number, is to the Lohan widely for good, spreading the Dharma's admiration. Yuan Dynasty calligrapher, poet Xian Yu Shu Yun: "children fried Lohan dishes, its name has been ancient." To the Qing Dynasty, this Luo Han dishes became the Palace Palace dishes, the Imperial Household often do, Empress Dowager Cixi on the "Luo Han dishes" favorite, "Luo Han Quanzhai", "Luo Han vegetable heart", "Lohan tofu", "Lohan gluten" she liked to eat. Qing Xue Baochen "Vegetarianism" cloud "Lohan vegetables, vegetables and melons and so on, and tofu, tofu skin, gluten, vermicelli, etc., all fried in sesame oil, plus soup in a pot with the stew. Very mountain flavor. Taiyi Temple, always use this method." Because of the affinity of the image of Luohan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be called broad beans Luohan beans.

Buddhists focus on cultivation, in the diet of thrift and simplicity, food Luohan dishes express the believers in honor of the Buddha, fasting and observance of the pure heart. I noticed that the Yonghegong Lohan dishes are made of yellow flowers, fungus, mushrooms, asparagus, gluten, yucca slices, water chestnuts, tofu, cabbage, carrots, etc. stewed together with a little veggie oil.