There are many theories about the origin of Chongqing hot pot. One of them is that during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, the trackers along the Jialing River were at the bottom of society. They set up a stove by the river with stones, and cooked it in a crock. As a result, the cooked food was delicious, which dispelled the cold and dampness. This is the embryonic form of modern Chongqing hot pot. The earliest hot pot was invented by Genghis Khan. Because he had been fighting all over the world for many years, it was time-consuming to see soldiers eating traditional barbecue mutton. In order to make the troops not delay their fighters, he cut the mutton into small pieces and threw it into a boiling pot. Since then, there has been hot pot in this world. From a certain point of view, it was the hot pot that made the Mongolian cavalry fill their stomachs, captured the Central Plains in high spirits, and hit Central Asia all the way west.

Chongqing chafing dish, also known as beef tripe chafing dish or spicy chafing dish, is one of the traditional ways of eating in China. It originated from the Jialing River in Chongqing in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. This dish is also an extensive way of catering for boatmen in Chaotianmen, etc. Its main raw materials are beef tripe, yellow throat of pigs, duck intestines, and beef blood.

Chongqing hot pot is rooted in the folk, and belongs to Sichuan cuisine among the eight major cuisines. Based on one cuisine, Chongqing hot pot has inherited many cuisines, and repeated cooking, compound seasoning, western cooking of Chinese dishes, new cooking of old dishes and cooking of northern materials and southern cooking in an unconventional way, which seems to be unintentional, but it is actually ingenious, thus achieving a surprising result.