Guizhou cuisine facts for kids

A delicious Guizhou dish, showing the mix of sour and spicy flavors.

Guizhou cuisine, also called Qian cuisine, is a style of cooking from Guizhou Province in southwestern China. It's known for its unique mix of sour and spicy flavors. While it shares some similarities with Sichuan cuisine and Hunan cuisine (which are also spicy), Guizhou food stands out because of its special sour taste.

People in Guizhou love sour dishes! There's an old local saying: "If you don't eat a sour dish for three days, your legs will feel weak." This shows how much sourness is a part of their daily meals. Unlike some other Chinese cuisines that use vinegar for sourness, Guizhou cuisine gets its sour kick from fermenting vegetables or grains. This gives it a truly special and local flavor.

Guizhou cuisine includes many different local styles and dishes from various ethnic groups, like the Miao people. Big cities such as Guiyang, Zunyi, and Liupanshui each have their own famous local dishes. This cooking style has been developing and getting better since the Ming dynasty period.

What Makes Guizhou Food Special?

Guizhou Province is famous for making high-quality Chinese liquor called baijiu. One of China's most well-known and expensive baijiu, Maotai, comes from Guizhou. Because of this, many Guizhou dishes are made to go perfectly with these local drinks. Examples include preserved vegetables and steamed cured meats.

Pickled Vegetables: A Sour Secret

A key part of Guizhou cuisine is its many types of pickled vegetables, known as yancai (simplified Chinese: 腌菜; traditional Chinese: 醃菜; pinyin: yān cài). These pickled veggies are what give many dishes their famous sour taste. To make them, fresh vegetables are cleaned and then dried without being in direct sunlight. After that, they are salted and sealed in containers for about four or five days. This allows them to ferment properly, creating that unique sour flavor. Pickled cabbage and radish are often served as side dishes with noodles.

Sour Soup: A Miao Tradition

The sour soup broth (simplified Chinese: 酸汤; traditional Chinese: 酸湯; pinyin: suān tāng) is a very important part of Guizhou cuisine. This special sourness comes from the Miao people, who have passed down this cooking method for generations. This broth is the secret ingredient for the famous Guizhou dish called 'fish in sour soup'. The broth is usually made by fermenting ingredients like rice, rice wine, wild tomatoes, red pepper, garlic, and ginger.

Spicy Dipping Sauces

Spicy dipping sauces (Chinese: 蘸水; pinyin: zhàn shuǐ) are a must-have for Guizhou people at almost every meal. These sauces are made by mixing chili pepper, garlic, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, or soy sauce. People can adjust the ingredients to their own taste. One special ingredient often used in Guizhou dipping sauce is Houttuynia (simplified Chinese: 折耳根/鱼腥草; traditional Chinese: 折耳根/魚腥草; pinyin: zhéěrgēn/yúxīng cǎo). Local people love its distinct taste, though it might be new to people from other parts of China.

The Art of Chili Peppers

Guizhou cuisine has many different kinds of spiciness because locals are experts at using chili peppers in various ways.

• Hu-la (Chinese: 糊辣; pinyin: hú là) is made by heat-drying crushed chili pepper.
• Ciba-la (Chinese: 糍粑辣; pinyin: cíbā là) is a mashed chili pepper paste. It can be uncooked or simmered in oil to make a sauce.
• Zao-la (Chinese: 糟辣; pinyin: zāo là) is made by preserving minced chili pepper with ginger and garlic.
• Laoguo-la (simplified Chinese: 烙锅辣; traditional Chinese: 烙鍋辣; pinyin: lào guō là) refers to chili flakes that have been flavored with other spices.

The very famous chili sauce brand Lao Gan Ma actually started in Guizhou!

Famous Guizhou Dishes