Hunan Food Guide: What to Eat Beyond Stinky Tofu

Hunan cooking, also known as Xiang cuisine, is one of China's eight great regional cuisines. Most visitors eat it in Changsha, the capital of Hunan. Street stalls there sell the famous Changsha stinky tofu, but a sit-down meal shows you much more of Hunan food. This guide covers the classic dishes, the city snacks, mild options and what to eat around the province.

What should you order at your first Hunan meal?

Order three classic dishes and share them with white rice: two spicy plates and one mild pork dish. That mix shows you the chili, the sauces and the sweet side of Hunan cooking.

Here are the dishes to choose for your table:

• Fried pork with chili: This dish is very popular with local people in Changsha. Slices of pork are fried with diced chili, fermented soy beans and garlic. It is spicy, so eat it with plenty of rice.

• Steamed fish head with chopped chili: This is one of the best-known Hunan dishes. It arrives bright red, under a layer of chopped chili. In 2018 the China Cuisine Association named it one of the ten classic dishes of Hunan, as Hunan's culture and tourism department notes.

• Red-braised pork belly, often sold as Chairman Mao's braised pork: Pork belly is stewed with sugar and cooking wine until it turns golden. It is rich and sweet-savoury, not a chili dish. The name comes from Mao Zedong, who studied in Changsha and liked braised pork belly.

In 2013, Hunan published official cooking standards for these three dishes. Order family style: the dishes go in the middle of the table and everyone shares. Plain rice helps with the heat.

Which Changsha snacks should you try?

Try tang you baba, gua liang fen and kouwei crayfish. Look for them on Pozi Street and Taiping Street, Changsha's old food lanes.

Look for these street specialities as you explore:

• Tang you baba: This is a famous Changsha snack: a fried glutinous rice cake. It is made from glutinous rice powder, oil and sugar. It is sweet, with no chili.

• Gua liang fen: These cold bean-jelly noodles are made from mung bean starch and water. They come with chili oil, sesame oil, chives and chopped peanuts. Locals usually eat them in spring and summer.

• Kouwei crayfish: Also called spicy crayfish, this is a traditional Hunan dish made with fresh crayfish. The meat is tender and hot. Order one plate to share and peel them by hand.

Pozi Street, in Tianxin District, was named one of China's ten food-tourism streets in 2023. Taiping Street is the best-preserved old street in Changsha, with food shops along its lanes. Read our Changsha travel guide to plan the rest of your city sightseeing between meals.

What if you can't eat spicy food?

Ask for less heat when you order, and add a few mild dishes to the table. Hunan menus have several dishes cooked without chili.

Mild dishes that often appear on Hunan menus:

• Stir-fried sweet potato leaves: A plate of leafy greens, quickly stir-fried. A good break from the spicy plates.

• Stir-fried lotus root slices, snow peas and wood ears: Crunchy lotus root with snow peas and wood ear mushrooms. It is light and fresh.

• Lotus seeds with crystal sugar: A sweet bowl of lotus seeds cooked with crystal sugar.

• Red-braised pork belly and sweet snacks: The braised pork uses sugar and cooking wine, not chili. A plate of sweet tang you baba also helps.

When you order, say bu la for "not spicy" or wei la for "a little spicy". Cold starters can be hot too. Preserved eggs with ground chili peppers, for example, are spicy. Tell the cook what you cannot eat.

You usually pay by scanning a QR code with your phone. Set up Alipay for foreigners before you travel. For table manners, see our China travel etiquette guide.

What do people eat outside Changsha?

Outside Changsha, look for smoked and cured pork in western Hunan and Zhangjiajie, and for beef rice noodles and spicy duck in Changde. Hunan cooking has three regional styles: the Xiang River basin, the Dongting Lake area and the western mountains.

Dishes to look for around the province:

• Western Hunan smoked bacon: Pork is rubbed with salt and pepper, cured for about a week, then hung over a fire to smoke. It keeps for two or three years. It is fried with green garlic or bamboo shoots, or cooked into rice with potatoes.

• Western Hunan rice tofu: This is made from rice, soybean and lime. It is soft and smooth, and a favourite in western Hunan, especially in summer.

• Duck with duck blood cake: A well-known western Hunan dish. The cake is made from duck blood and glutinous rice.

• Zhangjiajie cured pork with fir tree mushrooms: In Cili County, part of Zhangjiajie, fir tree mushrooms come up in the rainy weeks between spring and summer. They are fried in rapeseed oil with cured pork, chili and garlic, then simmered.

• Jinshi beef rice noodles: These come from Jinshi County in Changde, in northern Hunan. The rice noodles are white, round and springy. They are a national geographical indication product, a protected regional food.

• Changde spicy salted duck: Also from Changde, this duck is spicy and salty. It is a protected regional food too.

• Changde bowl dish: A stewed bowl dish kept hot at the table, much like a hot pot.

To get there, see Changsha to Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang by train. For the mountains, see our Zhangjiajie guide.

Trips that include this

• Nature Hunan, 8 days: Zhangjiajie's sandstone peaks, the riverside lanes of Fenghuang and a Changsha finish. It is our only published route through Hunan.
• Sichuan culture and food, 7 days: A food-led route through Sichuan, China's other big chili cuisine. No Hunan day.
• Grand China, 14 days: Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Yangshuo and Shanghai. Changsha can be added on request.

See all published China tours.

LocalKey plans private trips for your own party only, planned, booked and backed. Choose between two levels under private China tours: Independent and Private Guided. On Independent, a local guide, a car and driver, and an airport pickup are optional add-ons on the days you choose.

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