The place with the highest density of Sichuan cuisine chefs is delicious.

When Leshan, the "happy hometown of Sichuanese", has become a city in online celebrity, Sichuanese have already quietly avoided the crowd and happily moved to the city next door to Leshan.

Sandwiched between Leshan and Chengdu, it has contracted the world’s largest kimchi production base and is also the first city of Sichuan cuisine in China.

But what is more well known here is Su Shi’s hometown as a "gourmet KOL".

It is Meishan.

If Leshan makes you happy and forget to return, then when you arrive at Meishan, the unique aura of mountains and rivers is so good that you can smile. It is the back garden that Sichuanese want to hide most.

△ Meishan, a low-key food town. /vision china

The most aura city in Sichuan.

Su Shi has touched its light.

People often use "eyes like eyes, eyebrows like spring mountains" to describe beauty, and it is not an exaggeration to use it to describe Meishan. The city of Meishan, just the place name, has made people think.

Some people say that it is named after Emei Mountain; It is also said that Chengdu, a land of abundance, is proud of Meishan and lives in the south. The mountain shape here is ups and downs, and it looks like a clear eyebrow from afar, hence the name "Meishan"; Others said that it originated from Su Dongpo. It is said that some people saw his eyebrows as hills, which is in harmony with the sky, so they suggested that the county magistrate be renamed "Meishan".

Either way, Meishan is naturally endowed with poetic aura.

△ The aura of Meishan is leisurely and visible. /tuchong creativity

It is said that the "Dongpo flavor" of this city is very strong, and it seems that traces of Dongpo can be seen everywhere in Meishan.

The central city of Meishan is called Dongpo District. Sansu Temple and Sansu Museum named after Dongpo are the city landmarks of Meishan. Visit a park and you can also see Sumu Park, Su Xun Park and Su Causeway Park. Walking down the street, you can also see Sansu Avenue, Dongpo Avenue, Dongpo Bamboo Garden, Dongpo Primary School, Qingying Road, which is named after Sansu or his poems, and Xizi Street, which wants to compare the West Lake to the West.

△ Meishan is full of "Dongpo flavor". /vision china

It seems that Su Dongpo is the largest IP in Meishan, which has injected an open-minded and rich soul of literati into the city, but if you know Meishan, you will find that it is the natural aura of the city that gave birth to such a first romantic figure.

This place has been a famous "hometown of scholars" since the Song Dynasty. Lu You once praised Meishan: "It is a wonderful place to be pregnant and beautiful, and it is a city of poetry and books for thousands of years."

The aura of Meishan is hidden in the "bamboo" that can be seen everywhere in this city.

Qingshen County, Meishan City is known as the "hometown of bamboo weaving art in China". Whenever it comes, Meishan City is full of lush city and green pine and bamboo. For example, Sansu Temple, a landmark in the city, is a garden pattern of "two branches of bamboo and three branches of water". The most unique style in the temple is bamboo, with vast lakes and ponds, bamboo trees, towering trees and pavilions.

Bamboo nurtures people’s spirit. Dongpo has a famous saying: "It is better to eat without meat than to live without bamboo. No meat makes people thin, and no bamboo makes people vulgar. " Bamboo forest endows Sansu Temple with ethereal and distant artistic conception, and also reflects the spirituality of Meishan.

△ "Bamboo" is the soul of Meishan. /vision china

"Wawu is cold and snowy after spring, and Emei is green and rainy." Su Shi praised the two sacred mountains in his heart-Emei Mountain and Wawu Mountain.

Because of the administrative division, Emei Mountain was assigned to Leshan City, but in Hongya County of Meishan City, Wawu Mountain, which is also known as "the second best in Sichuan" with Emei Mountain, is also located. Although it is not as famous as Mount Emei, Wawu Mountain has more immortal and independent spirits.

△ "Asia’s first table mountain" Wawushan. /vision china

It is the second largest flat-topped table mountain in the world, and it is rectangular from any angle, like a tiled roof, so it enjoys the reputation of "the first table mountain in Asia" and "the dining table of God".

Here all the year round is in response to God’s care: you can enjoy the azalea sea in spring, the majestic waterfalls in summer, the red leaves in autumn, and the snow fairy tale in winter.

△ Wawushan magnificent waterfall. /vision china

In Hongya County, there is also a secret place forgotten by time. Many people call it "Little Cambodia" in Sichuan, and it is Caoyu Beach.

When you come to the upper reaches of Qingyi River, you can see the Alsophila spinulosa Gorge, which stretches for 6 kilometers. The peaks in the gorge turn back to the water, and the green Alsophila spinulosa trees are all over Shan Ye, reflecting on the green water. In the jungle, there is a pagoda forest dug and built with natural rocks, and 108 pagodas constitute the ancient and quiet "Thousand Pagodas Buddha Country".

△ Caoyu Beach, Sichuan "Little Kampuchea". /tuchong creativity

The ancient meaning of Meishan does not stop there. If the same ancient town makes you a little bored, Liujiang ancient town in Meishan may be an exception. Backed by Emei Mountain, Wawu Mountain, Houjiashan Mountain and Yuping Mountain, Yangcun River and Huaxi River pass through the town, and the geography with one side backed by mountains and three sides surrounded by water adds charm to it.

This is an ancient town with a history of more than 800 years. The Diaojiao Building in western Sichuan, Zengjiayuan, an ancient plank road close to the river, a century-old residential street, Guanyin, the world’s largest sleeping goddess, and 108 thousand-year-old trees all make the story of Liujiang ancient town rich. It is no wonder that film and television dramas such as "Heroes Who Are Unknown" and "Plot Against" all use it as a shooting location.

When night falls, if it happens to be drizzling, listening to the rain in the dim lights of the ancient town and living with water on your pillow, you may be able to understand what is called "misty rain and Liujiang River".

△ misty rain Liujiang is in Meishan. /tuchong creativity

Chuan Chu di yi cheng

Soak in your eyes.

Everyone knows that Su Dongpo loves to eat and knows how to eat. This gene is nothing more than being immersed in Meishan for a long time.

It is said that Chengdu, every small town in Sichuan is very "rolled" in the food industry, and every small shop is so delicious that people can’t take their legs. Even so, Meishan still makes a circle by its own unique charm-the first city of kimchi in China, and also the hometown of Sichuan chefs.

△ The first kimchi city in China, in Meishan. /tuchong creativity

Sichuan cuisine is very popular now, but many people don’t know that "the bone of Sichuan cuisine" is Dongpo kimchi. In Meishan, almost every household can produce their own kimchi jar, and kimchi is an indicator to test local folk cooking.

You can see the local people grow vegetables, pick them, and then store them by soaking. This production process has evolved from appetizers to seasonings and side dishes.

You can also visit the only kimchi museum in the country in Meishan, and its production skills can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty. It is even more legendary that Su Dongpo spent his schooling with a bowl of rice, a dish of salt and a bowl of pickled radish.

△ The first kimchi city in China, in Meishan.

There are many traditional cuisines in Meishan, and the most well-known one is Dongpo cuisine, such as Dongpo elbow, Dongpo fish, Dongpo cake, Dongpo sausage and Dongpo preserved eggs.

△ The cuisine named after a person is only Dongpo cuisine.

Nowadays, in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei provinces, you can eat Dongpo elbow, which has undergone continuous integration and innovation, and the Dongpo elbow in Meishan is their most traditional female parent, with a strong local flavor, glutinous and crisp. Meishan people eat elbows, and they are used to matching several sour and refreshing pickles, which can not only relieve boredom but also increase the level of flavor.

△ Meishan’s Dongpo elbow douban has a strong flavor.

Not just elbows, you can always find the most traditional flavor of Sichuan food in Meishan.

For example, the most common bean paste in Sichuan home cooking is also the specialty of Meishan people. Sichuanese often say that kimchi is the root of Sichuan cuisine, while watercress is the soul of Sichuan cuisine. There are many kinds of bean paste in Sichuan. Chen Xiaoqing’s team visited for a long time when filming "Flavor World 2", and finally chose to shoot in Meishan because there are the most traditional bean paste making techniques here.

Another example is "Mawangzi", one of the most popular Sichuan restaurants in Chengdu. The founder Ma Shiheng started his business selling blood in Meishan. Meishan-style Maoxuewang is just spicy, and pays attention to reasonable color and meat collocation. In addition to the traditional spicy taste, there is white bean soup with fat intestines and blood, and the fragrance is not greasy.

△ Mawangzi plays a variety of flavors with blood.

After more than 90 years of precipitation, this store has already walked out of Meishan, but for many Meishan people, Mawangzi represents not Chengdu Michelin, but an old shop that will be patronized from generation to generation.

As the traditional cuisine of Leshan is well known, Leshan sweet-skinned duck has also stepped out of Sichuan and Sichuan to let more people know. However, the sweet-skinned duck also has a contempt chain in the local area. If it is in Meishan, the Leshan version of the sweet-skinned duck can’t be sold at all. The most authentic accent of the local people is called "Braised Duck Nest".

Especially in pengshan county, Meishan, there are the most traditional "oil-scalded sweet-skinned ducks", most of which are hidden in old shops that have not been mass-produced. Compared with Leshan’s sweet-skinned ducks, Meishan’s sweet-skinned ducks are crispy in skin and softer in meat, with the most balanced sweetness, salty taste and braised taste.

△ Compared with Leshan version of sweet-skinned duck, Pengshan version is more primitive.

Of course, when Sichuanese come to Meishan, they want to find the ancient flavor most, and they have to nominate Danling frozen cake. Although these cakes wrapped in corn bud leaves are ugly, they are from Meishan people and even Sichuan people from snacks to big taste buds.

Danling people use indica rice, soybean and glutinous rice as raw materials to grind them into pulp, naturally ferment them in a jar without yeast, then wrap the prepared rice pulp with corn bracts and steam it in a steamer. This ancient production technique can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. In the old twelfth lunar month, every household in Danling steamed frozen cakes. The frozen cake steamed from each corn bract leaves is soft and waxy, and the entrance is sweet.

There is a saying in Meishan that "the old mother’s jelly tastes long". For everyone in Meishan, the ordinary jelly bears their attachment to their homeland.

△ Danling frozen cake, the childhood memories of every Meishan person.

Meishan is the youngest city in Sichuan. Before that, it was a county under Leshan until it was established in 2000. But everyone who knows Meishan knows that it has a history of about 2300 years of state and county organizational system.

It is also officially certified as "the hometown of Sichuan chefs in China". According to incomplete statistics, there are as many as 45,000 catering employees in Meishan, and at least one Meishan-born chef works there in every city above the prefecture level.

These Sichuan chefs have taken root in a foreign land, making Meishan cuisine praised by people all over the country.

When Sichuan cuisine goes to the world and Dongpo cuisine forms a unique category of Sichuan cuisine, Meishan people behind it are trying to interpret the cultural essence of Sichuan cuisine with the most traditional craftsmanship and the earliest flavor, and also give back to this aura and rich homeland.

Zhou Zhiruo/Wen

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Original title: "The place with the highest density of Sichuan chefs is delicious."

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