Self-guided Dingshu vegetable rice and river snail trail

The Dingshu vegetable rice and river snail trail is a self-guided food walk through Dingshu Town in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, China. Dingshu is best known as the capital of Yixing's purple-clay teapot craft, but its everyday eating culture is just as distinctive, built around Lake Tai freshwater produce, seasonal greens and glutinous rice. No licensed operator runs the route, so it is organised independently by visitors and takes about three hours at an unhurried pace. The trail begins at Jiaomin Caifan, at the corner of Zisha Road and Dongxian Middle Road, a local eatery serving caifan, the Jiangnan-style vegetable rice in which chopped seasonal greens are cooked through the rice and often finished with cured meat or lard. From there the route continues to Mixiangfang Tuanzi Shop at 78 Jiefang Middle Road, where tuanzi, rice dumplings made from glutinous rice with sweet or savoury fillings, are sold. This is the sweeter stop of the walk and works well as a lighter bite between the two heavier savoury stops. The final stop is Dapu Xumei at 107 Renmin North Road, known for river snails, a Jiangnan spring speciality that is usually stir-fried or braised with ginger, scallion and soy and eaten by sucking the meat from the shell. Snails are at their best in spring, roughly April and May, which is why the season is considered ideal. Across the three stops the balance is two savoury dishes to one sweet. Costs are modest, with a total of about CNY 60-100 per person (roughly $9-15 USD) for a tasting-sized order at each stop. Food is paid for at each venue; there is no included transport, so visitors walk or take a short taxi or ride-hailing hop between stops. Menus are mostly in Chinese, so a translation app or the dish names written in characters is useful. Group size is whatever the visitor chooses, and portions can be shared to taste all three stops without overeating. Dietary substitutions are not formally offered; vegetarians can focus on the vegetable rice and dumplings but should confirm that lard or meat is not used, and the snail stop is unsuitable for shellfish-free diets.