The unusually named Buddha jumps over the wall is a Chinese specialty with origins in the province of Fujian, and the dish was originally made in the Qing Dynasty period. The cooking process for this decadent soup is very complicated as it takes about three days to prepare it, and the recipe calls for upwards of 30 ingredients such as shark fin, chicken, duck, tripe, tendons, ham, gizzards, abalone, sea cucumber, pigeon eggs, mushrooms, scallops, bamboo shoots... and the list goes on.

Raw ingredients are cooked into separate, different dishes in order to develop their unique flavors. The dishes are then layered in a clay jar with soup and wine. Lotus leaf is used to seal the jar, and the jar is finally placed on the fire to be heated.

Although there are many theories about the origin of the soup, the most popular one says that a scholar went on a picnic with his friends, and placed all of the ingredients he had in a wine jar, which was then heated over a charcoal fire. The attractive aromas spread all the way to a nearby temple, resulting in monks jumping over the temple wall, even though they were supposed to be vegetarians.

One of the scholar's friends wrote a poem praising the soup, and the line says "Even Buddha himself would jump the wall to come over," giving the dish its intricate name. According to the Guinness World Book of Records, a bowl of this soup holds the record for the most expensive soup in the world, as it was sold for nearly $200 at Kai Mayfair in London.