Chinese cuisine mainly includes four major cuisines and eight major cuisines. The "four major cuisines" refer to Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Huaiyang cuisine; the "eight major cuisines" refer to Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Hunan cuisine, and Anhui cuisine. Hunan cuisine is among the eight major cuisines, but it does not belong to the four major cuisines. Hunan cuisine is not among the four major Chinese cuisines.

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.

Hunan cuisine is carefully prepared, uses a wide range of ingredients, has varied tastes, and has a wide variety of varieties; the color is rich in oil and rich in color, and it pays attention to affordability; the taste pays attention to spicy, fragrant, fresh, soft and tender; the preparation method is based on Simmering, stewing, curing, steaming, and stir-frying are all famous methods. The theme of Hunan cuisine is to go with rice. In fact, many Hunan people are afraid of spicy food, and they want to eat very spicy food. The spicy food results in eating more rice, so the main function of Hunan cuisine is to go with rice.

The representative dishes of official Hunan cuisine are represented by Zuan Hunan cuisine, such as Zuan tofu, Zuan shark fin, etc.; the representative dishes of folk Hunan cuisine include fish head with chopped pepper, fried pork with pepper, Xiangxi grandma dish, Jishou sour pork, Beef meal, Chenzhou fish meal, Dong'an chicken, goldfish lotus, Yongzhou blood duck, steamed cured meat, sister dumplings, Ningxiang flavor snake, Yueyang ginger spicy snake, etc.

If Hunan cuisine is not as good as Sichuan cuisine, it will be even more difficult to get into the four major cuisines. There are certain similarities in cooking techniques and taste between Hunan cuisine and Sichuan cuisine. "The theme of Hunan cuisine is to accompany the meal" to stimulate the taste buds. Promote appetite. This is not the case with Sichuan cuisine, which has many branch cuisines, such as Shanghebang Sichuan cuisine represented by Chengdu official cuisine and Meishan cuisine in western Sichuan; Zigong Yanbang cuisine, Neijiang Tangbang cuisine, Luzhouhe fresh cuisine, and Yibin Sanjiang cuisine in southern Sichuan*** Xiaohebang Sichuan cuisine has the same characteristics, and Xiahebang Sichuan cuisine in eastern Sichuan is modeled after Chongqing Jianghu cuisine and Wanzhou Big Bowl cuisine. This establishes the saying that Sichuan cuisine is more tasteful than Hunan cuisine.

There are not many famous dishes in Hunan cuisine, but fish head with chopped pepper. However, in addition to spicy Sichuan cuisine, there are also light and refreshing popular dishes, such as boiled cabbage. Therefore, the structural form of Sichuan cuisine is broader than that of Hunan cuisine, and Hunan cuisine is too narrow.