Nine bowls, also known as dam banquet, flowing water mat, nine bowls, nine bowls and so on. , one of the traditional famous dishes in Sichuan, is mainly steamed vegetables, originally named after nine-dish steamed vegetables. They are: soft fried steamed pork, steamed ribs, steamed pork with rice flour, steamed soft-shelled turtle, steamed mud chicken, steamed mud duck, steamed elbow, sand meat and salted water boiled.

At the same time, in Sichuan dialect, "bucket" means big container. Calling this scene with nine bowls is also praising the richness of its dishes.

The structure of the "nine bowls" of Sichuan folk banquet guests is generally as follows: steamed head bowls (generally steamed head bowls, crispy meatball head bowls, and miscellaneous shaking head bowls), pork buttons (boiled white) and miscellaneous buttons (steamed pork with powder) are the main dishes; In addition, it is served with pork tripe and scraps from the above four dishes, and mixed with bamboo shoots, taro, simmered kelp and vermicelli to make five bowls, that is, nine bowls. If it is all pork and mutton (beef was not served in the old society) and there are no chickens and ducks, it is also called a "big water mat". Poor and middle peasants often subtract braised pork from their last meal, and they mainly use their heads and feet (miscellaneous bellies) to enter the water, also known as "eight bowls of water". In order to show their wealth, rich people often add main ingredients to the first bowl, which are called "tendon mat", "bamboo sun mat", "sea cucumber mat" and "shark fin mat" to show their higher grade. Some even made a fuss about the last course, adding steamed chicken with mushrooms, ribs and laver to make a "mushroom mat", burning sand hot pot to make a "hot pot mat", and inviting master chef in Zhaotong and other places to hold a "barbecue mat". In the 1990s, the "Nine Bowls" not only changed their packaging, but also spread from pork to chicken, duck, fish and seaweed. At the same time, the number of dishes has increased from nine to several times. The old "Nine Bowls" are only kept in some rural areas.