Sweet potatoes and potatoes are gradually separated from staple foods and become raw materials for starchy foods, sake brewing, dried vegetables, etc., or feed for livestock. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoIn Hunan, no matter in the city or in the countryside, people eat three meals a day. The difference is that in the city, breakfast is more casual, with dinner in the day and dinner in the week. In the countryside, there is no obvious difference between three meals a day, and during the lunar festival or solar term, the diet is generally more grand than in the city. Within a year, the diet before and after the Spring Festival is the heaviest. In addition, whether it is in the city or in the countryside, almost every household has to make some pickles, dried vegetables, kimchi, sorrel, and cured vegetables according to the season. Whenever a guest arrives, the table is always served to show the housewife's skill and housekeeping ability.

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Chili peppers are said to be native to the tropical regions of South America and introduced to China in the late Ming Dynasty. The geographical environment of Hunan was called "humble and humid land" in ancient times, and it was rainy and humid. Chili pepper has the effect of keeping out cold and dispelling rheumatism; In addition, Hunan people take rice as the staple food all year round, and eating chili peppers can directly stimulate saliva secretion, appetizing and appetite. When the number of people who eat it increases, a spicy custom is formed. Hunan people eat chili peppers in a variety of ways.

The big red pepper is soaked in a sealed sour jar, and there is sour in the spicy, which is called "sour and spicy"; The red spicy, pepper, and garlic are mentioned at the same time, which is called "spicy"; Chop the big red pepper and marinate it in a sealed jar, which is spicy and salty, which is called "salty and spicy"; After chopping the big red pepper, mix with the dry rice powder, marinate in the sealed jar, and can be fried dry when eating, and can stir the paste, which is called "spicy"; After crushing the red pepper, add garlic seeds and soy sauce, and soak it in tea oil, the fragrance is strong, which is called "oil and spicy"; Put the big red pepper on the fire and grill it, then tear off the thin skin, and mix it with sesame oil and soy sauce, which is spicy and sweet, and is called "fresh and spicy". In addition, dried and fresh chili peppers can also be used as cooking ingredients, and there are many ways to eat them. Especially in the Miao village of Dong Township in Xiangxi, whenever a guest arrives, it is always served with dried chili stew.

When persuading customers, they always ask for "chili peppers" instead of "meat", which shows that they have a great appetite for spicy. Hunan cuisine is very popular with customers in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia, especially the American and Canadian people like to eat strong, fragrant, fresh and spicy Hunan cuisine. In the United States, some Hunan restaurants hang signs with big red peppers painted in front of their doors, with Hunan peppers written on them, and the aprons of the hostesses in the hall are also embroidered with big red peppers.

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Hunan people love to eat bitter taste. According to literature, its origins can be traced back to the pre-Qin period. There is a poem in "Chu Ci Summoning Spirits" that "great bitterness and saltiness, hard and sweet". The "great bitterness" here is said to be tempeh. This condiment, which is made from beans, has a history of more than 2,000 years. So far, Hunan people still have the habit of eating tempeh, such as "Liuyang tempeh", which is one of the local famous and high-quality specialties. Others, such as bitter gourd and bitter buckwheat, are also favorite foods of Hunan people. Hunan folk bitterness not only has its historical origins, but also has its local characteristics. Hunan is located in the subtropics, and the summer heat is long.

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The traditional medicine of the motherland explains the meaning of summer as follows: the weather is mainly hot, the earth is mainly humid, and the heat and humidity are called heat; If a person is in the midst of qi intercourse, he feels sick and is sick of summer. And "bitterness can relieve fire", "bitterness can dry dampness", "bitterness can strengthen the stomach". Therefore, people eat some bitter foods in moderation, which helps to clear away heat, dehumidify, and stomach, which is of great benefit to health care. Looking at the topography of Hunan, northern Hunan is mostly a lake area, southwest Hunan is mostly mountainous, and central Hunan is a typical hilly area. This regional difference has led to the diversity of food customs in various parts of Hunan. We divide it into three food areas, namely the West Hunan Wind Eating Area, the Central and Southern Hunan Wind Eating Area, and the Northern Hunan Wind Eating Area.

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With Changsha, Hengyang and Xiangtan as the center, it is the main representative of Hunan cuisine. It is finely made, with a wide range of materials, varied flavors, and a wide variety of varieties. Its characteristics are: heavy oil and strong color, pay attention to affordability, pay attention to sour and spicy, fragrant and fresh, soft and tender in taste. In terms of preparation methods, it is known for simmering, stewing, waxing, steaming and stir-frying. Simmering and stewing pay attention to cooking over a slight fire, simmering is full of flavor and juice, and stewing is as clear as a mirror; The preparation methods include smoking, marinating, and barbecued pork, and the famous Hunan bacon is a smoked product, which can be used as cold cuts, stir-fried, or steamed with high-quality raw soup; Stir-fried highlights freshness, tenderness, fragrance and spiciness, and is well known in the market. The famous representative dishes are: "steamed sea cucumber pot", "steamed cured meat", "black bean sauce button meat", "spicy chicken", etc., all of which are famous dishes.

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It is good at cooking river fresh, poultry and livestock, and mostly uses the preparation method of stewing, burning, steaming and waxing, which is characterized by thick thick oil, salty, spicy and soft. Stews are often served in hot pot, and folk use steaming bowls to stew on the tandoor, commonly known as steaming bowl stoves. It is often while boiling and eating while cutting the material, boiling hot and fresh, relishing, there is a local folk song of "do not want to enter the court as a horse, as long as the steaming bowl stove is cooing", which fully shows that the stew is widely loved by the people. The representative dishes are: "Dongting Golden Turtle", "Dongting Guiyu with Net Oil Barbecued Pork", "Butterfly Floating in the Sea", "Rock Sugar Xianglian", etc., all of which are well-known famous dishes in Dongting Lake District.

Xiangxi cuisine is good at making mountain delicacies, smoked bacon and all kinds of cured meat, the taste focuses on salty, fragrant, sour and spicy, often using charcoal as fuel, and has a strong mountain village flavor. The representative dishes are: "braised cold mushrooms", "chestnut roasted cabbage sum", "Xiangxi sour pork", "fried blood duck", etc., all of which are well-known delicacies in Xiangxi.

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The common flavor is spicy and cured. Chaotian chili, which is known for its strong spicy taste, is produced all over the province and is the main ingredient for making spicy dishes. Bacon has a long history of making meat, which has been said in China for more than 2,000 years. The cuisine of the three regions has its own characteristics, but the wells are not completely different, but the same in the differences, the same in the differences, interdependent, and communicate with each other. Looking at the whole picture, the knife work is fine, the shape and taste are beautiful, the seasoning is changeable, the sour and hot are famous, the original juice is exquisite, the techniques are diverse, and the simmering and roasting is especially heavy. With the progress of the times and the development of the country's economy, the wonderful flower of Hunan cuisine will bloom more brightly and dazzlingly.

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"When the spicy and strong meet, it will win countless in the world." After the widespread spread of pepper seeds in the southwest, northwest and southeast regions, they began to officially settle in the fertile and moist land of Hunan, where they immediately took root, flowered, fruited, multiplied and expanded, and won the love of the people in this land. As a foreign product from the West, chili pepper was not only not rejected in Hunan, or was neglected by onions, pepper and other crops, but received special courtesy and collided with a spark of passion.

The reasons for this can be analyzed as follows: The first layer is geographical and climatic reasons. It is said that at the same latitude in the world, there is a "spicy belt", from South America through the Pacific islands, through the Asian continent to East Asia, Southeast Europe, North Africa, Hunan is in a point of this "spicy belt".