The Hong Kong government and local restaurants on Friday launched a variety of gourmet dishes inspired by geological concepts such as volcanicity and superposition, to promote the city's geological treasure.

As a paradise for shopping and gourmet, Hong Kong should also stand out as a city of contrast and color, local authorities said.

Visitors are offered with an enriching experience with the introduction of geopark gourmet dishes. About 40 guests sampled the dishes including "volcanic lava lao sha pau" which is actually local popular dessert "custard bun" and "golden hexagonal columns" which are actually deep-fried shrimp rolls.

Edward Yau, Secretary for the Environment, noted that a major part of the geopark initiative is to connect geology and nature conservation with sustainable socio-economic development and management.

"A geopark will not have a soul if local communities are not involved. Empowering them will increase their sense of ownership to conserve the resources while revitalizing the local economy," Yau said.

"Hong Kong is famous for its city area, for its shopping, and also for things associated to the urban areas," said Jim Chi-yung, member of the Task Force of Hong Kong Geopark, "But tourists may not realize that we have an extremely beautiful countryside that is very sparsely populated and very natural, particularly the mountains, the hills, and the geological features, as well as the natural eco-systems."

Since its opening in November 2009, Hong Kong's first National Geopark in Sai Kung attracted more than 500,000 visitors till the end of March this year.

With diversified rocks such as sedimentary and volcanic rocks, the park offers visitors a refreshing experience in addition to Hong Kong's well-know metropolitan life.

The park, covering a total of 5,000 hectares and including eight major scenic areas, has also aimed at being upgraded as one of the world-level geoparks.

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