Hunan.

Hunan cuisine, also called Hunan cuisine, is one of the eight major cuisines with a long history in China. It has been formed as early as the Han Dynasty.

There are three main local flavors: the Xiangjiang River Basin, the Dongting Lake area and the mountainous areas of western Hunan.

Xiaoxiang flavor, represented by Hunan cuisine, referred to as "Hunan cuisine", is one of the eight major cuisines in my country (Zhejiang cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Anhui cuisine).

Hunan Province is located in the central-south region, on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

The climate here is warm, with abundant rainfall, abundant sunshine and four distinct seasons.

There is Nanyue Hengshan, a majestic mountain in the south, and a green Dongting in the north. The four rivers of Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li flow through the province.

The natural conditions are favorable, which is conducive to the development of agriculture, animal husbandry, sideline production and fishery, so the products are particularly rich.

Northern Hunan is the famous Dongting Lake Plain, rich in fish, shrimp and Hunan lotus. It is a famous land of fish and rice.

"Historical Records" once recorded that Chu's "terrain is fertile and there is no risk of famine."

For a long time, the proverb "if Huguang is well-trained, the world is well-equipped" has been widely circulated.

Southeast Hunan is composed of hills and basins, where agriculture, animal husbandry, and sideline fisheries are very developed.

Western Hunan is mountainous and rich in bamboo shoots, mushrooms and wild game.

Rich products provide exquisite raw materials for food. The famous specialties include: Wuling turtle, Junshan silver needle, Qiyang pen fish, Dongting golden turtle, Taoyuan chicken, Linwu duck, Wugang goose, Xianglian, whitebait and bamboo shoots from the mountainous areas of western Hunan.

mushrooms and wild game.

In the long-term food culture and cooking practice, Hunan people have created a variety of dishes.

According to research, as early as the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, the Changsha area could use a variety of raw materials such as animals, poultry, and fish to prepare various styles of delicacies using cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, boiling, and broiling.

With the advancement of history and the continuous exchange of cooking techniques, Hunan cuisine has gradually formed based on the three local flavors of the Xiangjiang River Basin, Dongting Lake area and the mountainous area of ????western Hunan.

1. History of Hunan Cuisine Hunan is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li rivers run through the entire territory and flow into Dongting Lake. It has fertile land, a mild climate and superior natural conditions. It is one of the regions with developed ancient culture in my country.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a large number of exquisite pottery vessels and wine vessels unearthed from the Neolithic sites in Hunan, as well as the remains of grains and animal bones unearthed along with these pottery vessels, prove that the ancestors of Xiaoxiang left the country as early as 8,000 or 9,000 years ago.

After returning to the original state of eating raw meat and drinking blood, I began to eat cooked food.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Hunan was mainly the place where the Chu and Yue people lived. Many ethnic groups lived together, with different food customs and the practice of worship was prevalent.

When Wang Yi of the Han Dynasty explained "Nine Songs" in his "Chu Songs", he said: "In the past, in the south of the Chu Kingdom between Yingwen and Yuanxiang, the common people believed that ghosts loved temples, and their temples would compose songs and music to encourage the gods..." Every

The sacrificial activities always take the form of banquets accompanied by dancing and music.

Dinners are held together to worship gods and earth, celebrate ancestors, celebrate weddings, hold funerals, and welcome and see off guests.

There are strict requirements on the variety of dishes, and they are also very particular about the color, aroma, taste and shape.

For example, during the Warring States Period more than 300 BC, the great poet Qu Yuan was exiled to Hunan and wrote the famous poem "Chu Ci".

Two of them, "Calling Souls" and "Big Moves", reflect the rich and delicious dishes, drinks and snacks used in such sacrificial activities at that time.

There is a description like this in "Calling the Soul": "...Eat more, rice, rice, millet, wheat, and yellow rice. It is bitter, salty, and sour, and pungent and dry. The beef from fat cows is more fragrant. It is more sour and sweet.

The soup with Chen Wu is more bitter. The fried turtle and lamb are more bitter. The fried chicken is more spicy and unpleasant." The explanation in vernacular is: "The dishes are rich.

Colorful. You can eat rice, millet, wheat, and rice. It is sour, sweet, salty, and delicious. The beef tendon is soft and fragrant. The roasted turtle soup has a sour and bitter flavor.

The lamb is also served with sugarcane juice, swan cooked in vinegar, braised pheasant, fried fat goose and crane, as well as braised chicken and turtle soup, which are delicious and strong-lasting." In addition, "Big Trick"

It also mentioned that there are "Chu cheese" - Chu style cheese, "醢dolphin" - small pork sauce, "kugou" - dried dog meat, "Zhiya" - roasted crow, and "烝臇" - steamed

Pheasant, "fried" - fried crucian carp, "que" - yellow bird soup and other dishes.

We can know from this that there were more than ten cooking methods in the dietary life of Hunan ancestors at that time, including roasting, roasting, stewing, frying, boiling, steaming, stewing, vinegar cooking, stewing, and sauce.

The raw materials used are also natural resources with the characteristics of Hunan.

In addition, according to the records in "Chu Ci", the snacks at that time were also very unique.

Qu Yuan described it this way: "...the rice wine has some honey. The spoonful of honey from the Yaoshan wine has more wine. The frozen drink is made cooler when brewed. The water drink is frozen and has some wine..." The interpretation in vernacular means:

"There are fried honey glutinous rice cakes, steamed honey cakes, and caramel. The iced glutinous rice wine is really refreshing and mellow, and the jade-yellow yellow rice wine is enough to make you intoxicated..." The above all illustrate that as early as the Warring States Period, Hunan

The food life of our ancestors was quite rich and colorful, and their cooking skills were quite mature, forming a southern flavor dominated by sour, salty, sweet and bitter.

As for the daily staple food of Hunan ancestors during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, archaeological and historical data confirm that there were rice, sorghum, beans, wheat, millet, millet, millet, rice, etc., but mainly rice.

Steamers, pots, cauldrons, etc. are used to steam rice.

The steamed rice has non-sticky texture and is sweet and palatable.

To cook porridge, use Li. Put rice and water together in the Li and cook over high heat until the rice is cooked.

After the rice, porridge and other dishes are cooked, they must be served in containers so that they can be eaten easily.

At that time, Hunan's food utensils were not only complete in variety, but also exquisite and elegant.

In terms of materials, they mainly include pottery, bronze, iron, lacquer, etc.