Why do you think Gansu people like cold dishes so much? I don't know. The temperature difference between morning and evening in summer in Gansu is quite large. In fact, it is quite hot during the day, and the highest temperature can reach 389 degrees. Mix a cold dish, such as cold cucumber, cold fungus, cold tomato, cold onion, cold bracken, cold chicory, cold gray vegetables, and a bowl of cold noodles, which is refreshing and carefree.
It is understandable to eat cold dishes in summer, but Gansu people just like to eat cold dishes in cold winter. Gansu belongs to the northwest, and the lowest temperature in winter in some areas can reach about MINUS 20 degrees. Some people's cold dishes are covered with a layer of ice silk that follows the shape of leaves, so people eat as usual. When they put them in their mouths, their teeth clanked and they obviously felt crisp and refreshing.
In major beef noodle restaurants in Gansu, various side dishes are sold all year round, including sauerkraut, fungus, cucumber, shredded potatoes, sour radish, bean sprouts, bean sprouts, dried beans and celery. These side dishes are all cold without exception. Prepare a large pot in the morning and sell it out when you close in the afternoon, adding some in the middle. The beef sold is cooked in advance and cannot be stored at room temperature, but can only be refrigerated. When customers need it, they cut a part now. Although there is a time difference between cooking, storage and selling, beef is still much lower than room temperature. Most diners just put beef noodles in their mouths and eat them directly. Nobody feels cold.
There are almost no Chinese restaurants in Gansu that don't sell cold dishes. They are also available all year round and can be sold at any time. Many people eat almost all cold dishes.
Gansu people will also prepare several cold dishes during the Spring Festival, including frozen skin, cold cauliflower, cold three-silk, cold chicken feet and cold pig ears. People in Gansu like to drink. There is a plate of ice-cut elbow on the wine table, not to mention how delicious it is. After drinking, melt a few soft pears, peel off a layer of ice shell and eat them with the ice silk in the pear meat. Only an alcoholic can understand this feeling.
Most northern regions seem to like cold dishes. Shaanxi, Shanxi, Ningxia, Hebei, Qinghai and other places have their own unique cold dishes and recipes. Gansu famous snacks Niangpi (cold rice noodles) and bean jelly are available all year round.
In fact, the south also eats cold dishes. For example, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, cold edamame is the best-selling dish in the hot night market barbecue stall, and "husband and wife lung slices" are also very popular among Hubei people. Further south, the varieties of cold dishes will be richer and the production methods will be more exquisite. But there are essential differences between southerners and northerners who eat cold dishes. Northerners like to eat cold dishes all year round, while southerners' cold dishes are more common in hot days and summer. There are basically no cold dishes on the dining tables in Hubei and Jiangxi.
I really don't know why northerners and Gansu people like cold dishes so much, which is a bit contrary to their cold and long winter temperament. Perhaps it is as difficult for southerners to prepare a table of cold dishes as it is for northerners to cook one or twenty hot dishes!