Sweet and sour sweet and sour pork, also known as ancient meat, started in the Qing Dynasty and is one of the traditional famous dishes in Guangdong. It is said that whenever it is served on the table, the diners around it will gulp down their saliva, hence the name.

the predecessor of sweet and sour pork is a common summer dish in Guangdong, which is called "sweet and sour pork".

In the early years, Cantonese people went to America to work hard, and they also took home-cooked pork with them. Later, Cantonese people gathered in San Francisco to form Chinatown. Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown naturally took their favorite dishes as their signature dishes, and "sweet and sour pork" also took root in Chinatown. By the beginning of the 2th century, "Sweet and Sour Pork" had become one of the most popular China dishes in Chinese restaurants, which was deeply loved by foreigners. They would call it "Sweet and Sour Pork" when ordering. Guangdong people nicknamed "sweet and sour meat" as "ghost meat" when they saw that foreign friends were so appreciative. Later, they felt that it was disrespectful to foreign friends, so they took a homonym and changed "ghost meat" to "sweet and sour meat".