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Culinary delights put city of gastronomy on the map

“Is there any possibility that people may fall in love with a city because of a certain taste? The answer is yes,” said Jonathan Kott from Seattle.

Kott, who first came to Chengdu in 1998 to study Chinese culture, said he fell in love with the city because of the tantalizing, spicy taste of its food.

Named by UNESCO as the first “city of gastronomy” in Asia, Chengdu is famous for its spicy and diverse cuisine. Many famous Chinese dishes — including mapo tofu, kung pao chicken and doublecooked pork slices — originate from the region.

While studying in the city, Kott often rode his bicycle through streets and alleys to look for authentic local food. He also liked to sit in teahouses and listen to old people talking, to learn the local dialect.

In 2005 he took part in a “Chili king competition” and won an award. Later he was invited to become a food show host on a local television station because of his ability to eat chili peppers and his fluent Chengdu dialect.

Because of his love for hotpot, Kott opened a restaurant in the city with a Chinese friend, around the time of the 17th Spring Festival since he moved to Chengdu. He said he might open another hotpot restaurant in the U.S. in the future.

Kott said he might never leave the city. “I regard Chengdu as my second home, where I can enjoy a relaxed life and the local flavor."

“All I am lacking now is to become a local pa erduo, have a few children, and then I can finish growing up in Chengdu,” he said. In the Sichuan dialect, pa erduo refers to a man who is afraid of his wife.

International reach

Sichuan cuisine is becoming better known among Westerners as Chengdu is holding more and more exchange activities around the world.

In November, the city held a food and cultural festival together with the San Francisco city government, the first event of its kind involving the two cities.

Top Chengdu chefs visited hightech companies in Silicon Valley, including Intel, Oracle, Facebook and Cisco, as well as famous Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area.

Chengdu set up a Sichuan cuisine overseas promotion center and a Chengdu tourism experience center in San Francisco during the festival. It also set up a second Sichuan cuisine overseas promotion center in Los Angles.

To introduce traditional Sichuan culinary techniques and cultures to people around the world, Chengdu plans to set up 10 Sichuan cuisine overseas promotion centers in the next three years, the Chengdu Commission of Commerce said.

Chengdu is renowned for its panda sanctuary. Every day, numerous visitors flock to the city to visit the pandas and during the holiday the numbers have been particularly high.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Traditional operas are performed during the Spring Festival holiday celebrations. [Photo provided to China Daily]