Hunan Cuisine Characteristics

Hunan Province (湖南省 Hu2 nan2 Sheng3) is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Hunan shares its geographical borders with Guanxi, Guizhou, Chongqing, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Guangdong provinces.

Capital: Changsha

Other major cities: Changde, Chenzhou, Hengyang, Huaihua, Loudi, Shaoyang, Xiangtan, Yiyang, Yongzhou, Yueyang, Zhangjiajie, Zhuzhou.


Geographical conditions:

Subtropical climate. Big rivers and lakes, some part are the province is quite mountainous.

Main styles within Hunan cuisine (湖南菜 hu2 nan2 cai4 or 湘菜 xiang1 cai4)

• Changsha
• Hengyang
• Dongting lake cuisine
• West Hunan

Local popular ingredients:

• Hunan chilli pepper
• Smoked and curing food (Salted smoked meat)

Popular cooking methods:

• Braising
• Vast use of chillies

Cooking focus on:

• Hot spicy flavour, fresh aroma and deep colour