Hunan cuisine, also known as local cuisine in Changsha, is one of the eight major cuisines with a long history in China, which was formed as early as the Han Dynasty. Xiangjiang River Basin, Dongting Lake Area and Xiangxi Mountain Area are the three local flavors. Hunan cuisine is well-made, with a wide range of materials, varied tastes and various varieties; The color is oily and heavy, and it is practical; Pay attention to spicy, delicious and tender taste; The method of making is known as stewing, stewing, waxing, steaming and frying. The representative dishes of official Hunan cuisine are represented by Zuan Hunan cuisine, such as Zuan tofu and Zuan shark's fin. Representative dishes of folk Hunan cuisine include chopped pepper fish head, stir-fried Chili meat, Xiangxi Waipo, Jishou sour meat, beef powder, Hengyang fish meal, Qifengdu fish meal, Dong 'an chicken, goldfish playing lotus, Yongzhou blood duck, Jiuyishan rabbit, Ningyuan stuffed tofu, steamed bacon, sister dumplings, Ningxiang tasty snake, Yueyang ginger spicy snake and so on. A large number of exquisite pottery utensils and wine vessels unearthed from the Neolithic sites in Hunan, as well as the remains of grains and animal bones unearthed with these pottery, confirm that Xiaoxiang ancestors broke away from the primitive state of eating animals and eating cooked food as early as 89 years ago. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Hunan was mainly a place where Chu people and Yue people lived, with many nationalities living together, different food customs, and the wind of sacrifice prevailed. In the past, between Nanying Wenyi and Yuanxiang in Chu State, there was a folk belief in ghosts and good shrines, and their shrines must make songs and music to inspire the gods ... "Every ritual activity always appeared in the form of feasting and dancing. Sacrificing to the gods, offering sacrifices to the land, enjoying ancestors, celebrating weddings, holding funerals, welcoming guests and seeing off guests all need to have dinner. There are strict requirements for the variety of dishes, and they are also very particular about color, fragrance, taste and shape. For example, in the Warring States period more than 3 years BC, the great poet Qu Yuan was exiled to Hunan and wrote the famous poem "Songs of the South". Among them, "Evocation of Soul" and "Big Trick" reflect the rich and delicious dishes, drinks and snacks in this sacrificial activity at that time. There is a description in "Evocation of Soul": "... eat more, the rice is covered with wheat, and the yellow beam is more." It's bitter and salty, and it's hard to do something. Fat cows are more fragrant. If you are bitter, Chen Wu will have some soup. The soft-shelled turtle shoots lamb, and it has some pulp. Sour fish, fry some red fish. It' s not pleasant to show the chicken. " Interpreted in vernacular, it is like this: "The dishes you eat are rich and colorful. You can eat rice, millet, glutinous rice, and Huangliang as you like. Sour, sweet, salty and bitter, harmonious and palatable. The beef tendon is soft and fragrant. Wu Guo soup with sour and bitter flavor. Roast turtle, roast lamb and sugar cane juice. Vinegar-cooked swans, braised pheasants, fried fat geese and cranes, as well as braised chicken and stewed turtle broth, are delicious and strong-they will last for a long time. " In addition, the Big Trick also mentions Chu cheese-Chu cheese, porpoise-pig meat sauce, bitter dog-dried dog meat, roasted crow, steamed pheasant and fried. From this, we can know that there were dozens of cooking methods such as burning, roasting, stewing, frying, boiling, steaming, stewing, vinegar cooking, halogen and sauce in the food life of Hunan ancestors at that time. The raw materials used are also natural resources with the color of Chu and Hunan. In addition, according to the records in Songs of the South, snacks at that time were also very distinctive. Qu Yuan described it this way: ".. there are some honey and erbium. Yaojiang honey spoon is more feather-like. If you drink it cold, it will be cooler. Chinese food is frozen, and there is some nectar .. "Interpreted as vernacular means:" There are fried honey glutinous rice Baba and steamed honey cakes, as well as caramel. The iced glutinous rice wine is really cool and mellow, and the jade yellow rice wine is enough for you to be intoxicated ... "All these indicate that as early as the Warring States period, the dietary life of Hunan ancestors was quite colorful and the cooking skills were quite mature, forming a southern flavor dominated by sour, salty, sweet and bitter. As for the daily staple food of Hunan ancestors during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, according to archaeological and historical data, there are rice, sorghum, beans, wheat, millet, millet and rice, but mainly rice. Steamed rice retort, pot, kettle, etc. Steamed rice is not sticky and sweet. When cooking porridge, use rice and water, put them in the porridge and cook with fire until the rice is cooked. After rice porridge is cooked and dishes are cooked, it must be served in containers to facilitate eating. At that time, Hunan food containers were not only complete in variety, but also exquisite and elegant. As far as materials are concerned, it mainly includes pottery, bronze, iron, lacquer and so on. Although these food containers have appeared since the Shang Dynasty, their shapes have their own characteristics in Hunan. In particular, thousands of lacquerware unearthed from Chu tombs in Changsha, Hunan, have beautiful shapes, bright colors and smooth patterns. It has a long history. Among the three cooking techniques, namely, hot cooking, cold cooking and sweet blending, there are only a few kinds of each technique and dozens of others. Relatively speaking, the simmering kung fu of Hunan cuisine is better, almost reaching the point of perfection. Stewing can be divided into red stewing and white stewing in color change, and clear soup stewing, thick soup stewing and milk soup stewing in seasoning. Slow stew, original flavor. Some dishes are crystal clear and mellow, some dishes are pure and nourishing, some dishes are soft and waxy, some dishes are crisp and delicious, and many stewed dishes have become famous and delicious in Hunan cuisine.

Hu' nan cuisine