Characteristics of Hunan cuisine:

1. Spicy. Except for soupy and watery dishes, almost all dishes have chili pepper. As for how spicy it is, it depends on the taste of each restaurant. The soup is generally not spicy. This is different from Sichuan cuisine (such as pickled fish).

2. Oil. Usually together with spicy. The more spicy it is, the more oily it is. The soup is also more oily than the one in Guangdong and Jiangsu, but not as oily as the pickled fish in Sichuan cuisine.

3. Salty. Usually put together with spicy food and oil. In addition, most cured products in Hunan cuisine are very salty, and everyone knows why.

4. Acid. Seasonal dishes are rarely sour, and vinegar is not very popular in Hunan. But there is one part of Hunan cuisine that is representative of the "sour" taste: pickled vegetables. The various pickles, whose scientific names I don’t know, are very unique and so delicious that you can’t stop eating them. They generally have a bit of a sour taste. The famous chopped chili pepper is sour. This should be the most reluctant taste for Hunan people who go out. Relatives always take a lot of pickles with them when they leave home.