Hunan Region

 

Hunan cuisine, also called Xiang cuisine, stems from a province that has an age-old reputation as a "land of fish and rice". Hunan Province has always been a cornucopia as far as foodstuffs go. The salient features of Hunan cuisine are richness, creaminess, and moistness, combined with a delicate use of chili. Hunan cuisine is also fragrant, with crunchy fresh vegetables that are cooked "al dente". It is said of Hunan cuisine that it not only has the saltiness of the cuisines of North China and the sweetness of the cuisines of South China, it also has the spicy-hotness as well as the tanginess of more local dishes.

The special seasonings of Hunan cuisine include soy sauce, tea seed oil, spicy oil, Chinese red pepper, fennel and cassia bark, each of which add its own particular color and flavor to the cuisine. Hunan cuisine is noted for pungency, thanks to its generous but judicious use of spices, especially the use of chili, which is as standard to Hunan cuisine as it is to South American or Indian cuisine. 

Szechuan Region

 

The dishes of the Szechuan Region of China are famous for their hot and spicy flavors. An outstanding facet of Szechuan dishes is the delicate use of pepper and chili. This dynamic is universally praised for its hotness, sourness and numbness it produces, which are rare in other regional cuisines. These together sum up the unique flavor of Szechuan Cuisine, "one dish with one flavor and one hundred dishes with one hundred flavors". 

Canton Region

 

Cantonese Cuisine, also known as Yue Cuisine, is the culinary style of Guangdong Province, also referred as Canton.

Popularized around the world, Guangdong dishes are characterized by their tender and slightly sweet taste. Sauces are a crucial seasoning in Guangdong cuisine.  Classic Cantonese sauces are light and mellow with the most widely used being hoisin, oyster, plum and sweet and sour. Other popular ingredients in Guangdong Cuisine include Ginger, chili peppers, five-spice powder,spring onions, sugar, salt, soya bean products, rice wine, vinegarand sesame oil. Garlic is, additionally, used heavily in some dishes.