Su Shi can be said to be a rare all-rounder in Chinese history. You can think of him as a great talent with outstanding talents, or you can think of him as a high-spirited writer. You can also think of him as someone who served the country and the people. minister of the country. Although our understanding of Su Shi is more focused on his personal literary and political achievements or actions, what we cannot ignore is that Su Shi is definitely a rare professional foodie among literati.

After Su Shi arrived in Huangzhou, a famous historical food related to him was born. Huangzhou is a small city located in southeastern Hubei. Here are the east slopes where Su Shi reclaimed wasteland and planted valleys, the Red Cliffs where he went boating and cooked fish, and the afternoon teapots and vegetarian spring dishes. Huangzhou pork is cheap, but unfortunately "the rich refuse to eat it, and the poor don't know how to cook it." Su Shi wrote a recipe for stewing pork. The method was extremely simple, but it eventually evolved into the world-famous Dongpo Pork.

During the period when Su Dongpo was demoted to Huangzhou, the chief monk of Anguo Temple was monk Jilian. Su Dongpo often played chess and composed poems with monk Jilian, and the two became close friends. It is said that one time when Su Dongpo was playing chess very late, he became hungry. The master asked a young monk to make food. The young monk found that there was a bowl of dried noodles left, so he put the leftover noodles in a small amount of sesame oil and heated it up in the stove. It was dark at night, and the little monk took a nap. When the hungry Su Dongpo went to the kitchen to check, the dry noodles in the pot had been fried into a paste. He tasted it with interest and found it very delicious. This is the timeless snack - Dongpo Pancake.

Not only in the dishes, Su Shi is also unique in the staple food. "Er Red Rice" is an invention made in hardships. After Su Shi arrived in Huangzhou, one of his friends asked him to help him obtain an abandoned camp. Because the area was full of rubble and lacked water, rice could not be grown. Instead, wheat with strong drought resistance could be grown. Coarse wheat grains are not easy to digest and have a bad taste. He doesn’t know where the inspiration came from. He thought of adding red beans and cooking them in a pot. The taste was greatly improved. The cooked rice was reddish in color, which was similar to the red beans. It became "Er Red", euphemistically called "Er Red Rice".