Chongqing is in a mountainous region, with a distinctive winter and summer period. Chongqing people believe a spicy diet will help their bodies cope with the temperature extremes. Chongqing dishes are rich in flavor and use almost 40 different cooking methods in their preparation. Chongqing food is largely a hybrid of Sichuan cuisine and local specialty dishes. Sichuan, a "land of fish and rice", is the home of worldly known Sichuan Cuisine. The Sichuan cuisine is characterized by its heavy flavoring with spiciness and use of a diverse range of native ingredients. Popular for piquancy, dishes from this region are spiced with an array of flavorings: red pepper, sesame, fermented black beans, scallions, ginger, garlic, wine and soy sauce. The unique feature of the Sichuan Cuisine is "Ma" - the feeling of numbness in the mouth. The "Sichuan red peppercorns", known as "Huajiao", give its distinctive taste to Sichuan food and create a most sudden numbing sensation in one's mouth. Another distinctive feature of Sichuan dishes is the use of nuts. Often cashew nuts, walnuts and peanuts are combined with chicken, mushroom or bean curd to attain the all-important "texture" which is crucial to all Sichuan dishes. The number one specialty of Chongqing is Sichuan hotpot, in which diners cook their own sliced meat and vegetables in a bubbling pot of soup or spiced oil.

As one branch of Sichuan cuisine, Chongqing cuisine is noted for its distinctive spicy and pungent flavors. Different from Chengdu cuisine, Chongqing dishes are spicier and stronger in taste. Chili pepper, sesame, fermented black beans, scallions, ginger, garlic, wine, soy sauce and an array of flavorings are used in almost 40 different cooking methods. These methods include drying, salting, spicing, pickling, frying and smoking. Color, smell, flavor, shape, and nutrition are all carefully balanced in Chongqing dishes.

Since the catering business is thriving in Chongqing, many food streets are forming gradually and naturally. Many local specialities like tea-smoked duck, dry-stewed fish, chicken with spring water, Dan Dan spicy noodle, etc. are worth tasting, but only if you are adventurous with hot and spicy experiences!

In Chongqing, hot pot restaurants can be found everywhere and many have become very popular among the local people. Chongqing is the birth place of the hot pot in China. Once upon a time, it was a seasonal food designed to protect against the low temperatures and frigid winds of the winter. People would sit around a table, eat hot pot, and revel in the instant warmth that would flood their bodies. Hot pot has become more and more popular today, and it is widely enjoyed by people, regardless of seasons and regions.

Eating hot pot is a joyful experience. First, you need to choose the pot - spicy, pure or a combination of two - for the soup and dipping sauce. After the spiced soup boils with a hazy steam, fish, meat, bean curds and vegetables can be added. When the soup boils again, you can eat by dipping them in a little bowl of special sauce  - but be careful of the burning hot soup!

Major Chongqing Gourmet List

Hot pot

It is the most famous food in Chongqing. The heavy oil and spices in the hotpot are definitely an accustomed taste, but the locals just love it. A hot pot is an electric or gas pot filled with flavorful and nutritious soup base. You have a choice of spicy, pure and combo for the soup base. Thin sliced raw variety meat, various bean curd products and all kinds of vegetables are boiled in the soup base. You then dip them in a little bowl of special sauce. Be careful since the spicy soup base is burning hot. The Chongqing people like to enjoy the hotpot, which is noted for its peppery and hot taste, scalding yet fresh and tender.

Jiangtuan fish

Since Chongqing is located along Jialing River, travelers have a good opportunity to sample varieties of aquatic products. Among them, a local fish, Jiangtuan fish, also called big-head fish, is probably the best. The steamed fish, retaining all the essence, will definitely leave a deep impression on anyone that has sampled it.

Pork leg cooked with rock candy

Pork leg cooked with rock candy is a common household dish of the Chongqing people. The finished dish appears red in color, strongly taste and sweet after-taste.

Sliced meat with crispy rice

Sliced meat with crispy rice is a major dish in Chongqing. The meat tastes soft and tender while the rice is crispy, forming a sharp contrast with the former. When sampling this dish, you can even hear the sizzling sound emerging from the rice.

Stuffed Dumplings

Most probably you have tried stuffed dumplings made of glutinous rice, but you may still be amazed at the their mini counterpart in Chongqing. It is just hard to imagine how local folks can manage to cram the sweet stuffing into such a pearl-sized dumpling.

Pan-Fried Beef Slices

This is a very famous Sichuan food. This dish's main ingredient is beef (sirloin steak). The moisture is drained from the meat and it is then stir fried with hot peppers cut into thin strips. This food is tender in texture and very spicy in taste. It is a traditional Chinese dish.

Beef in Spicy Soup

This food is a well-known Sichuan dish and made of steamed beef with a variety of seasonings and spices. It tastes spicy, fresh and tender with a rich hot and peppery flavor. It has a wonderful aroma looks bright red. It shows mostly Sichuan characteristics.

Squash with Meat Filling

This food is made with squash and meat. The inside of a squash is hollowed out, and the squash meat is then mixed with pork. This mixture serves as a filling. The empty squash is then filled with the meat mixture and then steamed. You will taste the bitterness and spice that make this food unique. This food is very popular in the summertime.

"Fish-Fragrant" Pork Slices

This is a roast pork dish cooked with bamboo shoots, mushrooms and Sichuan's special seasonings and spices. The special sauce is called "Yuxiang", which means fish fragrant. There are several dubious explanations for the name of this sauce, which contains no fish. It's said that the sauce makes the pork taste like fish, or that the sauce was used to flavor fish first and pork later. This dish is dark red in color and tastes salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Its unique flavors and the strong aroma of the meat make it very popular outside China.

Camphor and Tea-smoked Duck

This dish is salted, smoked duck. After being smoked, the meat is steamed and deep-fried. It is dark red in color with crunchy exterior and tender meat inside. Its aroma is like that of camphor trees and flower tea, and it enhances the flavor of the dish.

Dan dan mian

Cold noodles in chili sauce

Ma po dou fu

Beancurd in hot spicy meat sauce

Hui guo rou

Twice-cooked pork

Stir-fried lotus flowers

Eaten as a vegetable, it is stir-fried chicken strips with orchid-petals and duck casserole with medicinal herbs.