On a street full of small restaurants, the entire area is permeated with appetite-arousing aromas. A group of people sit around a boiling hotpot, and their faces, reddened by the steam, brim with content and joy. In such a restaurant, though cramped and simply decorated, you can have a taste of the genuine Sour and Spicy Starch Noodles. Yelling in his strong local accent, a young waiter trots out of the crowded kitchen with a bowl of noodles, red chilies sprinkled on top. The noodles, when stirred, give out whiffs of a sharp yet pleasant aroma, and when tasted, the acid and pungent sensation makes you flush to the ears and hurriedly suck in cool air. Although your tongue is already numbed, you just cannot resist the temptation of these the-spicier-the-tastier noodles.

In 2010, Chengdu was chosen as the "City of Gastronomy" by UNESCO, becoming the first city in Asia ever granted this honor. The Chengdu people have an inborn passion for life, which, as far as food is concerned, becomes hot spice and its everlasting exhilaration.

Guangzhou—"Taste of Home" on a Low Fire

Double-Stewed Soup is indispensable on the dining tables of Guangzhou people, and, as the commonest dish in their daily life, it also forms a part of their dietary culture. The soup, slowly simmered over a low fire, embodies the deepest sentiment among all Guangzhou dainties; it is a classic unique to Cantonese cuisine.

The fact that soup means so much to Guangzhou people is closely linked with the local geographic conditions and climate. Guangzhou, located in the far south of China, has a sultry climate. People there perspire intensely, and consequently consume excessive energy. Therefore, they need tonics to restore the body's equilibrium. This is one reason that traditional Chinese medicine is quite developed in the region. Local people not only place great faith in Chinese herbal medicine, they also have some knowledge of traditional Chinese pharmacology. It is mostly due to its tonic function that Double-Stewed Soup has been passed down from generation to generation and become a tradition in Guangzhou.

Also called "Simmering Soup," the method of making it involves putting the raw food materials and sufficient water in a pot, and simmering it over a slow fire. During the whole process, the pot is not uncovered, no more water added, and only basic seasonings put in. As the larger materials become soft and squashy, the fresh flavors of the different materials blend with each other, and their essences dissolve in the broth. At that point, a pot of fresh and delicious soup is ready. The supreme quality of the soup, however, is "the taste of home," which symbolizes the irreplaceable position of a mother or wife in a family.