Maocai is a dish made with meat, soy products, vegetables, seafood, and mushrooms as the main ingredients. It originated in Chengdu and is a traditional snack with Sichuan characteristics.

The most exquisite way to eat Maocai is "dry dish", that is, place dry chili powder in a small dish, add salt, MSG and other seasonings, and put the hot vegetables in the pot on a dry dish. Dip it lightly in it and then put it into your mouth. The taste is fragrant and spicy, very delicious. Origin

Maocai originally originated in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. In the Western Han Dynasty, due to the large-scale mining and use of well salt, the Sichuan people's eating habits of "valuing taste and liking spicy food" have been initially formed. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to various diseases that appeared in the army during successive battles, soldiers lost their appetite. In order to prevent the spread of diseases in the army and achieve good results, military doctors ordered the cooks to often add some traditional Chinese medicine to the meals, which could prevent and cure diseases. , and can produce fragrance and achieve the purpose of seasoning; therefore, most of these medicines are seasoned and used as marinade.

Later, after improvements made by cooks, various vegetables were blanched and they were found to taste better than before and were more popular among military officers and soldiers. This method was widely spread in the army. Because the amount of food in the army was relatively large, they often cooked soup with spices and scalded the food, which was called "maocai" in ancient times. Later, when the cook got old and left the army, he brought this method to the people and made a living by running a "Mao Cai Restaurant", and the business was extremely prosperous. From then on, Maocai entered a period of unprecedented prosperity.