Local flavor, global appeal

Xu Fan, chef and founder of Michelin-starred Xu's Cuisine in Chengdu, says that, since the reform and opening-up, Sichuan cuisine has evolved into its modern form, which is to cook various ingredients from around the world using traditional methods, and present them with special Sichuan flavors. "Modern Sichuan cuisine is to inherit the tradition and keep innovating," Xu says.

"The special geographic location of Sichuan, which has rivers, grasslands, mountains, ice floes and snow mountains, makes the place abundant in natural resources," Xu says.

Xu, who started to learn Sichuanstyle cooking in 1991, says each of the 24 basic flavors has a different evolutionary path. "It's hard to find two restaurants that make the same dish exactly the same way, so the flavor of Sichuan cuisine is ever-changing," he says.