Hunan Cuisine · FFET10031
Spicy Eating Habits of Hunan and Hubei
The Qingbai Leichao records that people of Hunan and Hubei ate twice a day and liked sharp, hot flavours, never lifting chopsticks without pepper or mustard.
A large clay pot of steamed mixed cured meats sends up steam, with cured pork, cured fish and sausage under red chilies, a bowl of chopped chilies sits beside it, and smoked pork and strings of red chilies hang on the wall.
The regional cooking of Hunan, leaning to sour and hot flavours, skilled with cured meats, simmering and stewing.
The entry on the eating of Hunan and Hubei people in the Qingbai Leichao, published in 1916, records that they ate two meals a day and liked sharp, hot foods; even with a table laden with delicacies they would not lift their chopsticks without pepper or mustard, and soups were common. The entry names the two provinces together and does not speak of Hunan alone.