Chinese traditionally eat "zongzi" (sweet, glutinous rice dumplings) during the Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival, which falls on June 20 this year.

However, this year, a French chef and his family have created a sweet alternative: Ice cream.

On Saturday, Gerard Taurin, a pastry chef from Normandy, will offer his latest creation at Beijing Galeries Lafayette. Most of his ice cream is made with unusual, but very Chinese, ingredients, such as jasmine, goji berries, ginger and Sichuan peppers.

"Ice cream actually comes from China," says Taurin, who believes Italian explorer Marco Polo introduced Europe to ice cream 700 years ago

It is said he was inspired by the Chinese method of adding herbs and fruit to water. During the Yuan Dynasty, the 13th Century, the Chinese would leave flavored water outside overnight in the cold so it would freeze, and then would pour ewe milk over it.

Taurin's selection comprises 10 flavors, including black sesame, tapioca pearl, hawthorn fruit, millet, jujube, cinnamon and eucalyptus. His ingredients are inspired by his travels to Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Sichuan provinces this year

He has shared his ice cream with people on the Great Wall, in the Forbidden City and in Beijing's hutong alleyways in recent months. Now the 2003 Ice Cream World Champion has plans for a book and a film.

On June 18, he and wife Veronica Bustamante made an Eiffel Tower ice sculpture at Lafayette to celebrate the opening of the Lafayette Gourmet in Beijing.