There are many "eating theories" of Anhui people: in the Spring and Autumn Period, Laozi said that "governing a big country can cook a little fresh", which set the tone, analogy and soup for governing the country; Later, Guan Zhong put forward the wise saying that "food is the most important thing for the people". Liu An, King of Huainan in Han Dynasty, invented tofu. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao and his son Cao Zhi wrote Four Seasons Imperial Meal System, Xian Xun Banquet and Pingle Banquet, which had a great influence on China's "dietotherapy" theory and banquet design. The theory of health preservation written by Tu, a famous figure in Wei and Jin Dynasties, also has far-reaching influence. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang initiated Laba porridge, which was related to Zhu Hongwu tofu. Zhang Ying, a famous person in Tongcheng in Qing Dynasty, wrote twelve episodes of rice, which comprehensively expounded the diet theory. Micro-cuisine is one of the eight major Chinese cuisines. According to research, micro-dishes originated in the Tang and Song Dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China, with thousands of recipes.

Zhang, a late Tang poet who settled in Qimen, Huizhou in his later years, said that "peach blossoms and flowing water are fat for mandarin fish", which makes people salivate. The osmanthus fish mentioned in the poem is the stone osmanthus fish in Huizhou mountain stream, also known as Taohuagui. When the peach blossoms are in full bloom, the meat is delicious and the most tender. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the dishes made by horseshoe turtles (soft-shelled turtles) and oxtail civets (civets), the specialties of southern mountainous areas in Anhui, were world-famous.

At that time, Song Gaozong asked Wang Zao, a bachelor, about the "taste". Wang Zao quoted two poems by Mei, a poet in Xuancheng, Northern Song Dynasty: "A horseshoe turtle in the sand, an oxtail raccoon in a snowy day. There are many bamboo shoots and vegetables in Huizhou. The Miao bamboo shoots produced in Wenshan Zheng, Shexian County are the most famous. Because of the soil, this kind of ivory bamboo shoot is very delicate and will break when thrown on the ground. It is a good raw material for making Anhui cuisine.

It is said that Shexian people who do business in Hangzhou often ask people in their hometown about political bamboo shoots. Huizhou people from Xin 'anjiang peeled some bamboo shoots, cut them into casserole and stewed them with charcoal fire. When I arrived in Hangzhou, I opened the casserole and the aroma almost spread throughout Hangzhou. The Southern Song Dynasty, which preferred Hangzhou, had a soft spot for wild vegetables in Huizhou. Bamboo shoots in Wenshan Zheng are one of the tributes.

Huizhou is rich in ingredients, producing more than 800 kinds of edible vegetables, fruits, fungi, starch, bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, flowers and medicinal materials, and more than 200 kinds of breeding and wild animals. The raw materials of Anhui cuisine also change with time. Huizhou merchants in some coastal areas not only took mountain products away from his hometown, but also brought back dried scallops, sea cucumbers and other seafood when they returned home. Seafood appeared in Huizhou cuisine.

Mandarin fish is the best of freshwater fish, fresh and tender, sweet. On the way back to Tunxi from Shitai, Guichi and Anqing, Huizhou merchants will buy it when they see it. In order to prevent fish from going bad, they will sprinkle salt layer by layer. When I got home, the mandarin fish skin was a little smelly and I couldn't bear to throw it away and burn it. I didn't expect it to taste excellent, and the stinky mandarin fish is famous all over the world.

In the past, it was generally believed that the characteristics of micro-dishes were heavy oil, heavy color and heavy firepower. Now it is summarized as four points: focusing on salty and fresh, paying attention to the original flavor; Pay attention to fire control work; The cultural heritage is profound; Pay attention to food supplement and health preservation. The cooking methods of Anhui cuisine include roasting, stewing, stewing and steaming. Among them, stewing does not destroy the nutrition of raw materials, making it easier for people to absorb.

There is Xin 'an medicine in Hui culture, and many Huizhou chefs are the inheritors of Xin 'an medicine. Those dietetic and medicated diets that strengthen the body have also been included in Anhui cuisine for a long time. Of the 87 dishes recorded in the "Huizhou Cuisine" volume of Huizhou Cultural Encyclopedia, 72 were created by Jixi people. In terms of dishes, Anhui cuisine includes banquet dishes, harmonious dishes (set meal), five rules, eight dishes and ten bowls, popular dishes and home-cooked dishes. At folk banquets, one pot, six big plates, nine bowls of six, ten bowls of eight and so on are all very particular. Looking east at the old garden, there is homesickness in the food. Hu Shi, who came out of Jixi, is drifting away, but he always likes to eat hometown dishes, except butterfly noodles, which is a pot.

Hu Shi's wife is good at this dish, so whether in Beijing or abroad, Hu Shi always recommends it to his friends. The pot is fragrant all over the world and is called "Hu Shi Yipin Pot".

In the tide of history, there is nothing unchangeable, and so is Anhui cuisine. Although today's Huizhou cuisine is no longer favored by wealthy gentry in the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has touched the taste buds of countless people with its rich varieties and profound cultural heritage since the 20th century.