In late Qin and early Han period, Chuan cuisine had basically been established. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it went through rapid development. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it had enjoyed a great reputation. Now the Chuan cuisine restaurants spread all over the world. Authentic Chuan cuisine is represented by the dishes of Chengdu of Sichuan Province and Chongqing. It attaches importance to material choice and is particular about specifications. The side dishes distinguished by different colors have a clear distinction between primary and secondary priority, thus being bright-colored and harmonious. It is characterized by sourness, sweetness, numbness, spiciness, fragrance, heavy oil and thick flavor.

Placing an emphasis on seasoning, it can't go without chilli, pepper and Chinese red pepper as well as fresh ginger. It wins universal praise for its hotness, sourness and numbness, which are rare in other local dishes, develop the unique flavor of Chuan cuisine and enjoys a good reputation as "one dish with one flavor and one hundred dishes with one hundred flavors". Its cooking methods excel in baking, sautéing, dry-sauteeing and steaming. Chuan cuisine is good at using flavor and has thick gravy. Based on the five flavors of saltiness, sweetness, numbness, spiciness and sourness, it is added with all kinds of seasonings, which cooperate with each other and develop into twenty three compound flavors of all sorts, such as homemade flavor, salty and fresh flavor, fish flavor, litchi flavor and bizarre flavor, etc.

Representative Dishes:Braised chicken dices with peanuts, sautéed spicy pork, boiled beef in hot sauce, Mapo dofu (spicy bean curd), fried sliced pork meat with spicy sauce and fish with bean sauce, etc.