Most people's first impression of hot pot is that it comes from the spicy hot pots of Sichuan or Chongqing, and the definition of hot pot is relatively narrow. In fact, for hot pot, both the spicy hot pots of Sichuan and Chongqing, as well as the shabu-shabu favored by the old Beijingers, and the clear broth seafood pots of the Guangdong people can be considered to be one of the types of hot pots.

When it comes to the origin of hot pot, there are many different ways of saying it. Take Beijing's shabu-shabu as an example, it is said that Beijing's shabu-shabu originated during the time of Genghis Khan, who couldn't bear the thought of his soldiers eating dried meat due to the wars he fought outside all year round, and invented the method of cooking slices of lamb in white water, which was later passed down with the end of the wars and was improved to add various spices to the water. evolved into a thick soup with various spices added.

Unlike the shabu-shabu of Beijing, the spicy hot pot is more controversial, and in fact the biggest controversy lies in the place of origin. There is a view that the spicy hot pot originated in Chongqing, where the mountains were steep in the past, and the transportation was mainly by water, and in the face of the boats going upstream against the current, it was necessary to have a slender man on the bank to lead the boats forward by pulling the ropes. And because of the perennial in the river valley area, humidity and low temperature, so the slender men with the accompanying peppercorns and other spices made a rich soup, used to stew fish and shrimp and vegetables, after the formation of the hot pot.

Another theory is that spicy hot pot originated in Zigong, Sichuan Province, so that the basis of the argument is that since ancient times, salt is a regulated seasoning, very few private salt sales, so not to make a strong flavor of the hot pot, but there is a place to except that is the production of salt in Zigong, as a place of origin, where the price of salt is inexpensive and can be found everywhere, coupled with the fact that, since the Qing Dynasty, since the region of Zigong, the beef supply is very abundant. The supply of beef in Zigong has been very abundant since the Qing Dynasty, so the locals invented the way of eating hot beef in soup.

In fact, no matter where the origin is, the hot pot is not the same all over the country, just like the Sichuan and Chongqing regions, which are famous for their hot pots, and each family has its own hot pot, so you can hardly eat two hot pots that taste exactly the same.