Sample Chongqing's local specialty 'the hotpot'

Updated: 2005-10-10 11:40

While in Chongqing, make sure you sample a 'hotpot' - the local specialty cuisine. Hotpot (huoguo), literally meaning 'fire pot', is Chongqing's most famous and favourite dish. It's eaten all year-round.

Originating on the banks of the Yangtze River, hotpot was originally eaten by poor boatmen. Meat vendors would prepare a broth of chillies and Sichuan pepper, and sell skewers of offal to cook in the spicy soup. Today, hotpot is no longer a poor man's dish and ingredients for dunking are not restricted to tripe. You can dip almost anything you like in your pot, from Chinese mushrooms and squid to tofu and lotus root.

Hotpot restaurants can be found all over Chongqing, not to mention all over China, but no one eats hotpot quite like a Chongqinger - the chillies they use are much, much hotter than the ones found in neighbouring Chengdu.

If all this sounds like too much for your taste buds, ask for the 'yuanyang' version, which is divided into a spicy side and a mild side. Just tell the restaurateurs that you are 'pa la' (scared of chilli spice)!

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