I think it might have something to do with spices historically being used to mask the taste of food that is going bad but still edible. People on the coast would mostly eat seafood and you don’t want to be doing that with seafood.
I don’t know, this is just pure speculation on my part.
the turning meat explanation is what I’ve always heard, and the interior provinces were poorer than the coasts so it intuitively tracks
sichuanese shuizhuyu (“boiled fish”) is just fish boiled with a ton of chilis, which seems like the thing you would do if the fish weren’t smellin’ so hot anymore
hotpot started as poor people food (throw whatever you’ve got handy - the stuff nobody else wants to eat - into intensely spicy oil broth), then rich people caught on and the “weird” exotic stuff became expensive delicacies
hotpot started as poor people food (throw whatever you’ve got handy - the stuff nobody else wants to eat - into intensely spicy oil broth), then rich people caught on and the “weird” exotic stuff became expensive delicacies
Same thing happened in the west with stuff like oyster and lobster, it was the garbage food that the fishers would eat after selling all the quality food (fish) and then rich people came along and were tricked into eating the leftover snot balls and sea bugs and they become fancy expensive rich people food.
I think it might have something to do with spices historically being used to mask the taste of food that is going bad but still edible. People on the coast would mostly eat seafood and you don’t want to be doing that with seafood.
I don’t know, this is just pure speculation on my part.
A plate of spicy ceviche sort of destroys that thesis. I suspect its more about where the peppers grow.
the turning meat explanation is what I’ve always heard, and the interior provinces were poorer than the coasts so it intuitively tracks
sichuanese shuizhuyu (“boiled fish”) is just fish boiled with a ton of chilis, which seems like the thing you would do if the fish weren’t smellin’ so hot anymore
hotpot started as poor people food (throw whatever you’ve got handy - the stuff nobody else wants to eat - into intensely spicy oil broth), then rich people caught on and the “weird” exotic stuff became expensive delicacies
Same thing happened in the west with stuff like oyster and lobster, it was the garbage food that the fishers would eat after selling all the quality food (fish) and then rich people came along and were tricked into eating the leftover snot balls and sea bugs and they become fancy expensive rich people food.