Every place has its own unique cultural customs, from which a unique food culture is derived. As an important domestic tourist city and an area inhabited by ethnic minorities, Zhangjiajie certainly has mouth-watering delicacies. . When traveling to Zhangjiajie, how can you miss the opportunity to taste local specialties! Tujia Sanxiaguo

A Tujia home-cooked dish with bacon, radish and tofu as the main ingredients. There are dry pots and soup pots. The dry pot has a strong spicy taste and is suitable for those who love spicy food.

There is such a legend about Sanxiaguo. It is said that in the Ming Dynasty, the chieftain soldiers in western Hunan and Hubei went to the front line to fight against the Japanese. It happened to be the New Year. In order not to miss the military flight, the chieftain king ordered to celebrate the new year one day in advance. The soldiers stewed bacon, tofu and radish in a pot and called it "hecai" . Later, it gradually evolved into "three pots". Today, Sanxiaguo is no longer about cooking bacon, tofu, and radish in one pot. Its ingredients have become more abundant. Generally, two or three ingredients are selected from sausage, pork tripe, beef tripe, sheep tripe, pig's trotters, or pig head meat. Seed, processed and cooked, it is the first recommended delicacy in Zhangjiajie tourism. Of course, as explained in "A Bite of China", delicious food is hidden in the mountains and markets, and you need to explore it yourself and taste it slowly.

Tujia Cured Meat

The Tujia people in Zhangjiajie have special preferences for cured and cured products. Every year when the winter solstice arrives, every household begins to kill the New Year pig and make bacon. To make Tujia bacon, you need to cut the fresh meat into long strips of five to six kilograms each, put it in a large vat, sprinkle with salt, pour wine, add star anise, pepper, old bark, etc., and press it with large stones for marinating. Turn it over every one or two days. After a week, when the meat has a salty aroma, it can be taken out and smoked over firewood. The bacon smoked in this way is black and red, fat but not greasy, burnt but not crispy. The smell of bacon is tangy to the nose, and the mouth is full of fragrance when eaten.

Tujia people have many types of cured meats, including cured fish, cured sausages, cured pork belly, cured pork liver, cured game, etc. When eating, simply steam and cook it, and it is a delicacy in the world. In addition, it can also be used for stir-frying, hot pot and other methods.

Rock ear stewed native chicken

Rock ear is one of the three treasures of Zhangjiajie, also known as stone ear. It grows on the sandstone cliffs of Wulingyuan Scenic Area. The shape is similar to the fungus, but larger than the fungus. The surface is black and has fine spines. It usually takes six or seven years to grow. The picking process is also extremely difficult.

Rock fungus is stewed with native chicken and has high nutritional value. It was once a royal dish offered by toasts.

Stir-fried meat with kudzu root powder

Pueraria root powder, fern powder, rock fungus, and eucommia tea are also known as the "three treasures and one wonder" of Zhangjiajie. Arrowroot powder is divided into rice arrowroot powder and firewood arrowroot powder. The authentic firewood arrowroot powder comes from the root tuber on the mountain with an altitude of more than 720 meters, and Zhangjiajie is more than 1,200 meters above sea level. Therefore, the arrowroot powder here has extremely high nutritional value, and the taste and nutritional value are also excellent.

Stir-fried pork with kudzu root powder is a collision of two delicacies. The aroma of bacon and the thickness of kudzu root powder are integrated into one. Every bite is the ultimate enjoyment.

Cold Noodles

In the streets and alleys of Zhangjiajie, you can see food stalls selling cold noodles everywhere, which can be described as a unique food scene. A small two-wheeler solves the store problem. People eat in different shapes, sitting, standing, squatting, or walking while eating. People eating cold noodles are also divided into men, women, old and young, and the seasons are not divided into spring, summer, autumn and winter. A bowl of cold noodles is the solace for the souls of Zhangjiajie people.

Recommended route: Zhangjiajie—Jinbianxi Scenic Area—Yuanjiajie—Yangjiajie—Wulong Village—Tianzi Mountain Scenic Area—Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park—Morong Miao Village —Phoenix Ancient City.

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Zhangjiajie local specialties and snacks

1. Black-bone chicken and gastrodia soup

One of the specialties in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. This dish is made of black-bone chicken and gastrodia elata as the main ingredients, stewed with wolfberry, red dates, refined salt, chives, ginger, chicken essence, vinegar and other raw materials. After it is out of the pot, sprinkle with a little coriander and it is ready to eat.

2. Sangzhi salted tofu

A specialty snack in Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province. Sangzhi salted tofu became popular during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty. It was once listed as a tribute and became famous in the capital. Dried salted tofu is rich in nutritional value

3. Zhangjiajie Sanxiaguo

Also known as Tujia Sanxiaguo, it is a stew of bacon, tofu, and radish in one pot to make a delicious dish. Refreshing, people later called this dish Sanxiaguo. Nowadays, Zhangjiajie’s Sanxiaguo no longer consists of bacon, tofu, and radish cooked in one pot. Instead, it is mostly pork intestine, pork tripe, beef tripe, sheep tripe, pig's trotters, or pig head meat. Two, three or more of them are specially processed by local chefs and cooked in one pot

4. Sour fish

Sour fish is a local side dish of the Tujia people. There are many ways to process Tujia food, and they pay attention to how they eat it, sour, spicy and fragrant. In summer, when the weather is hot, in order to preserve food, fish and pork are mixed with glutinous rice flour and marinated to make sour fish meat, which is not greasy, antiseptic and delicious.

5. Cured blood tofu

Cured blood tofu is made by mixing tofu with pig blood, pork, pepper, chili and other seasonings into a puree shape, and then smokes and roasts it until it turns waxy. It tastes chewy and fragrant. Blood tofu has the smoked flavor of bacon, the original flavor of pig blood and the bean flavor of tofu

Recommended authentic Zhangjia specialty snacks

1. Pig Laoke cold noodles

2. Dried konjac

3. Sour radish

4. Fried spicy food: fermented corn

5. Hezha: "Lazy Tofu"

6. Stir-fried bacon with kudzu root powder

7. Tujia Sanxiaguo

Zhangjiajie delicacies include Sanxiaguo, Tujia Slag, bacon, spicy pig's feet, rice noodles, Zhangjiajie is known as the hometown of giant salamanders, and the imitation ecological giant salamander is naturally a delicacy with high nutritional value.