Touring in Sichuan, eating is pleasant, enjoyable and full of characteristics.
Sichuan has been a wonderful place since ancient times. The Land of Aboundance with fertile lands, adequate rivers, abundant foods and products, has brought up so many outstanding people. Since the roads of Sichuan were hard and dangerous, it was less influenced by wars in historical times, so Sichuan natives could create and develop their eating culture with unique feature during the long history. And there is a saying goes "Best Eating in Sichuan" and "Wonderful Sapor in Sichuan".
The types of compound flavors in Sichuan Cuisine are as many as tens, mainly including the tastes of salt- freshness, family taste, spicy-flavored spice, sweet-sourness, lichi, mustard, fragrance, complex taste, etc. The various and abundant tastes form the unique style of both delicious and rich flavors of Sichuan Cuisine. Another thing needs to be point out is that different types of dishes in Sichuan Cuisine need to choose different seasonings, in short, flavors coexist with its unique seasonings. For example, dishes of spicy and family’s tastes must use the seasoning of County Pi in Sichuan, but fish-fragrance type must use that of Sichuan flavored spice.
Sichuan Cuisine has gone through thousands of years, and it boasts more than 4,000 dishes, among which more than 1,000 are frequently used in banquets and restaurants, and 300 more are rare and precious dishes. Sichuan Cuisine has so many characteristics: rich ingredients, various seasonings, serious choice of materials; delicate shredding and arrangement, complicated cooking, unique flavor; uncountable types of dishes with varied tastes.
Sichuan Cuisine is composed of five types: banquet dishes, public convenient dishes, family-flavored dishes, hot pot, and snacks.
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Banquet dishes mostly choose delicacies of every kind and seasonal vegetables, focusing on the craftwork of dishes, without too mamy hot ones. |
Public convenient dishes: among various dishes, mainly stir-fried one. And the flavor is mostly very strong like hot dishes. |
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Family-flavored dishes are public’s favorite, having strong local and family flavors. The materials are widely employed, with simple cooking methods and rich seasonings, so it is widely known. |
Hot pot consists in two categories: red soup one(hot flavor) and white soup one(salty and fresh flavor), and sometimes the mandarin dark pot(both flavored soup) are employed. People boil whatever they want, and it tastes fresh and fragrant. The materials for boiling are as many as several hundreds.
As a special-flavored popular delicacy of Sichuan Cuisine in recent years, hot-soup pot has influenced the whole country, and its particular charm attracts innumerous customers. A lot of people like to have it but also are afraid of it. When they eat it, they perspire and breathe constantly due to spice and hotness, however, few of them back out. Some people addict to it, and have the desire to taste it without a day off. Hot-soup pot focuses on hot and spicy flavors, but it turns moderate-flavored, fragrant and delicious by seasoning in the dishware, , without too much spice and strong taste, not too mention stimulating the stomach and intestines.
Snacks: Sichuan snacks are mostly made up of rice, flour and grains. They are characterized by delicate appearance, high quality and low price. Many famous snacks originate from street pedlars in old times. After hundreds of years’ development, nowadays the restaurants shared "The Old and Famous Shop in China" are mushrooming, such as Long Chao Shou(hun tun dumplings), Zhong Shui Jiao(boiled dumplings), Dan Dan Noodle with Chili Sauce, Han Bao Zi(Han’s dumplings), Pearl-like Sweet rice ball, Slice Beef Salad, etc.
Besides the special food, the tea and wine in Sichuan are also highly praised nationwidly and worldwidly. Sichuan wine could trace back to ancient times, most of which are brand names, and they almost occupy a half of Chinese honor brand wines, such as Wuliangye Liquor, Luzhoulaojiao tech Liquor, Jiannanchun Liquor,Quanxing Daqu Liquor, etc.
Tea drinking and planting are the inventions of people in Sichuan, which is the unique contribution to China and even the whole food culture of humanbeings. From ancient times to Song Dynasty, Sichuan is the main production region of tea in China, and its tea is even widely known for the famous saying "The water in Yangtsing River and the tea on top of Meng Mountain.
People in Sichuan advocate eating, not only for the need of living and development, but for spiritual and emotional pleasures that eating brings about. While eating, people savour life, enjoy life, express feelings, which makes "Wonderful Sapor in Sichuan" having much strong sentiment of rural atmosphere.