Hangzhou Cuisine Museum

“Each food has a flavor of its own，and you can’t mingle different flavors.I noticehow mediocre cooks put chicken，duck，pork，and goose into one pot to stew..…If these animals were aware of it，they would be petitioning for the chef’s punishment in hell，”Yuan wrote.”Mediocre cooks always keep a pot of pork oil，and finishing each dish with a spoonful，so as to make it greasy.Even the delicate bird’s nests are not spared from this humiliation.Those ignorant commoners..are the reincarnations of hungry ghosts.”Yuan’s definition of good food，which can still be found in most Hangzhou cuisine today，was balance:”Good food is rich and aromatic，but not greasy；fresh and natural，but not bland.”

As one might have guessed，Yuan Mei also emphasized dining with good manners.He also considered hot pot，then popularized as a court favorite，as a barbaric way to eat:“All that hustle and yelling around the table is distasteful.”If that’s what Yuan Mei thought of hot pot，he would be very disappointed with modern China’s overdose of spices and peppers，which seem to purposefully override natural tastes and aromas.This purist attitude makes Hangzhou one of the few places where foodies can find fare that flaunts its flavor.

qingquang

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