Sichuan Food
Sichuan food refers broadly to the dishes, snacks, staple foods, ingredients, drinks and culinary traditions associated with Sichuan Province in southwestern China. Its best-known named culinary tradition is Sichuan cuisine (川菜; Chuāncài), but a regional food page should cover foods and foodways beyond restaurant dishes. The national intangible cultural heritage record for Sichuan cooking describes its core area as present-day Sichuan and Chongqing, reflecting a shared and overlapping culinary history rather than a boundary every dish follows.[1]
Sichuan cuisine and regional food
Sichuan cuisine is one important part of Sichuan food. This page uses “Sichuan food” for the province-wide subject and “Sichuan cuisine” for the named cooking tradition. The terms are related, but they do not describe exactly the same scope.
Dishes, snacks and staple foods
Sichuan food includes banquet and home-style dishes, noodles, street snacks, hot-pot traditions and other regional specialties. Examples already documented on this wiki include Mapo Tofu, Dan Dan Noodles, Zhong Dumplings and Sichuan Hot Pot. A dish’s presence on a regional page indicates a documented connection, not necessarily an exclusive origin.
Ingredients and condiments
Sichuan pepper, chilies and fermented seasonings are important subjects in the region’s food culture. Pixian Doubanjiang belongs in an ingredients or condiments section, not a dish list. The traditional production technique for Pixian douban is listed in China’s national intangible cultural heritage register; that designation applies to the technique, not automatically to every similar product sold under that name.[2]
Food by place
- Chongqing Food — a separate municipality page with closely connected Ba-Shu and Sichuan culinary traditions.
- Chengdu, Leshan, Zigong, Yibin and other city pages can be added as individually researched pages become available.
Related pages
References
- ↑ Sichuan Cooking Techniques, China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum.
- ↑ Traditional Production Technique of Pixian Douban, China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum.