As Beijing has been the capital of China for centuries, its cuisine is influenced by culinary traditions from all over China, but the style that has the greatest influence on Beijing cuisine is that of the eastern coastal province of Shandong. Beijing cuisine has itself, in turn, also greatly influenced other Chinese cuisines, particularly the cuisine of Liaoning, the Chinese imperial cuisine, and the Chinese aristocrat cuisine.

Iced fruit (Bing Guo, 冰果) is a traditional dessert dish of Beijing cuisine. The main ingredients of this dish include 250 grams of lotus root, 100 grams of almond, 100 grams of walnuts, 100 grams of lotus seed, 250 grams of sugar and a lotus leaf. The lotus root, lotus seeds, almonds and walnuts are chopped into small pieces and steamed. The sugar is mixed with water and then boiled to become syrup. The lotus leaf is cut into small pieces and soaked in boiling water. The steamed ingredients are placed on the lotus leaf with syrup poured on top and then cooled by ice (or nowadays in a refrigerator) and served cold. As the dessert is served in a bowl, the dish is also called Ice Bowl (Bing Wan, 冰碗).