It has replaced the Yellow Earth, Black Earth, and Xiangyang (Facing the Sun) Village restaurants as the Mecca for people wishing to taste the food of the 'bitter old days'.

Wild vegetables are now so widely accepted that they have already taken the place of imported vegetables, such as broccoli, as people's favourite choice in most restaurants.

Chefs in most top restaurants have managed to turn the wild vegetables into exquisite dishes which still fall within the budget of the average local customer.

In Three Stones restaurant for instance, two people can get more than 10 varieties of wild vegetables for under 40 yuan (HK$36).

A Beijing University professor and a frequent customer of Three Stones said he had tired of eating meat and fish dishes.

'It is not only a change to the taste buds, it is also a touch of the culture of Chinese gastronomy,' the elderly professor said.

A young woman said it was not the taste of the 'bitter old days' that she was looking for in these dishes of wild vegetables. 'It's kind of a treat,' she said.

And for a 60-year-old woman now living in the city, eating something which used to be her daily diet must surely be a delight.

'I was brought up in a rural village and grew up eating wild vegetables virtually every day.

'Life has improved since we moved into the city, but we had problems finding wild vegetables to eat. It is really wonderful to be able to eat these vegetables again in the restaurant,' she said.

According to the manager of the Three Stones, two production areas have been developed - one in a Beijing suburb and one in Baoding, Hebei province - supplying over 30 varieties of wild vegetables to the restaurant.

Diners face tremendous variety when ordering wild vegetable dishes. According to the manager of Three Stones, more than 200 kinds of such vegetables are found.