First of all, Xinyang cuisine on the material level includes Xinyang tea, Xinyang water and Xinyang cuisine (cooking raw materials), which is the basis and premise of Xinyang cuisine. Xinyang people are called Xinyang people because they drink tea, eat rice and cook fish well, which is closely related to the specific living environment of Xinyang people. This blend of North and South comes from Xinyang's unique geographical location. Xinyang is located in the subtropical Jianghuai water town, with abundant sunshine, abundant rainfall, fertile land and rich products. The rice, fish, shrimp, livestock and poultry produced are of good quality and delicious. Rice production accounts for 70%-80% of the province; Xinyang is densely covered with mountains and is rich in tea, delicious food and game. At the same time, the territory is densely covered with water networks and lakes, and various aquatic products such as fish, shrimp, ducks, geese and turtles are extremely rich. From the perspective of raw materials, it can be used by the army.

Secondly, Xinyang cuisine on the cultural level includes diet psychology, diet customs, diet legends and mainstream cultural traditions that permeate every detail. Xinyang is located at the junction of Hubei, Henan and Anhui provinces, between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. Historically, its terrain is dangerous, with Chen Ru in the north, Xiang Ying in the front, whistling in the chest, controlling Cai Ying, facing the mountains and facing the wild, looking flat and comfortable in all directions, extending in all directions. It is a place where the North and South cultures interact, penetrate, communicate and merge with each other. In this way, the taste of food is naturally balanced between the north and the south, and the east and the west blend. From braised pork to fish balls, from stewed fish to goose pieces, from bean curd residue to canned braised pork, as the saying goes, mixed-race children are beautiful and their diet is beautiful.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Xinyang has long belonged to the category of Chu culture, which has not only been deeply branded with Chu culture, but also opened a new chapter in Xinyang food culture. As a result, Xinyang cuisine is basically the same as Chu cuisine, and likes to eat soup (soup), roasted meat (several kinds of meat together), game, spicy, sweet and sour, aromatic pure drink, bacon and other cold meals. It inherits the fine tradition of Chu cuisine, goes through vicissitudes and keeps pace with the times, and finally forms a unique cuisine style.

Thirdly, Xinyang cuisine on the technical level includes technical talents and their influence, as well as the cross-application of various technologies. Here, technical talents are the core. Examining the professional and technical talents selected in this book, it is found that Xu Huayi, Yang Changshan, Chen Zengxian, Zhong Guangxue and other masters are descendants of royal chefs and have certain research on royal meals. Li Dexian, Zhang Shijie, Zhang Tianyu and Shi Liang are Henan people outside Xinyang, and they are authentic descendants of Henan cuisine. Li Fangsen, Guo, Yang Quanhou, Jia Guihan and he are all Xinyang people who are good at cooking local dishes. Although Jiang Hongbin, Zhang Liguo and Yang Defu came from Guangdong and Sichuan, they joined the Xinyang catering industry and scientifically combined Cantonese cuisine and Sichuan cuisine with Xinyang local cuisine to adapt to local tastes. Young chefs such as Square Wave, Luo, Li Hongqun, although from Xinyang, borrowed the techniques of Hubei cuisine and won the favor of customers. On the premise of Xinyang's raw materials, these elites in Xinyang catering industry have crossed the sea and displayed their magical powers, or one person can do many things, or various techniques are intertwined, learning from each other and merging with each other, which greatly enriched Xinyang's catering market and adapted to people's changeable consumption psychology, thus forming a cooking system of Xinyang cuisine and improving the overall cooking level of Xinyang cuisine.

Xinyang cuisine is mainly salty, fragrant, slightly spicy and mellow, with slightly heavy color and smooth taste. Compared with Sichuan cuisine, Xinyang cuisine is slightly spicy and seemingly spicy; Compared with the pickled flavor of Hunan cuisine, Xinyang cuisine is salty and does not contain smoky flavor; Compared with hubei cuisine, the consumption of pepper is lighter than that of hubei cuisine. Compared with Henan cuisine, it tastes spicy. In terms of cooking technology, the folk cooking methods of Xinyang cuisine are mainly frying and stewing, followed by stewing, and steaming, frying, frying and marinating. Raw materials are often stored by pickling, waxing and air drying.