A much-loved street snack in Hengyang, sold from roadside woks and best eaten the moment it leaves the oil. A simple batter — flour or glutinous rice flour — is shaped by hand or spoon, dropped into hot oil, and fried until the surface blisters and turns deep gold. The contrast is the whole point: a brittle, crackling shell giving way to a soft, faintly chewy centre. Some are sweet, dusted with sugar; others savoury, flecked with scallion and salt. Cheap, filling and impossible to stop at one, they are the taste of a Hengyang afternoon — bought in a paper bag, eaten standing up.

A traditional pastry from Hengyang, long associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival. Its name describes it exactly: su (flaky), bao (thin), yue (moon). The dough is folded and rolled again and again into paper-thin layers, wrapped around a modest filling of crushed sesame, sugar and osmanthus blossoms, then baked pale gold. It breaks at the slightest touch, dissolving into fragrant crumbs the moment it reaches your tongue — light, sweet but never cloying, with a cool floral note that lingers after the crunch. In Hengyang it is more than festival food; it is a taste people carry home.

A celebrated dish from Hengdong County in Hunan province, a region known across China for its rustic home-style cooking. Fresh pork stomach is carefully cleaned, simmered until just tender, then cut into fine slivers and tossed over blazing heat with local chili, garlic and ginger. Everything hinges on timing — a minute too long and the tripe turns rubbery. Done right, it is crisp, springy and fiery, with no trace of gaminess. It is Hunan cooking in miniature: humble ingredients transformed by heat and nerve.

Hengyang fish rice noodles are a beloved breakfast dish from Hengyang, Hunan — silky rice noodles served in a rich, milky fish broth, topped with tender fish slices, pickled long beans and a spoonful of chili. Soft rice noodles go into the bowl first, then slices of just-cooked fish, pickled long beans, chopped chili and scallions. The result is clean, warming and quietly addictive — the taste of the city waking up. For locals, a day without a bowl of fish noodles hardly counts as a proper morning.

The crayfishis stir-fried with pepper, aniseed, fennel, garlic, ginger, wine and other seasoning. It is very spicy, but one cannot help eating it again and again.

    Created by the Dong'an people of Hunan Province as early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it has a history over 1200 years. This kind of dish is attractive in shape, color and nutritionally rich. It tastes hot, crisp, sweet, tender and tart.

Yulin pork kidney sounds like a fancy dish in Chinese but actually it is also called Tutouwan by local people, which is usually served first in local banquets. The delicacy rich in materials puts many varieties of snacks in only one bowl, piling up like a pagoda with seven layers from bottom to top. Apart from beautiful design, it also boasts diverse tastes.

Recently, a large truck carrying 60 boxes totaling 1,200 kilograms of Hengyang Fish Balls departed from Hengyang City, Hunan Province and arrived at Guangzhou after a 15-hour journey. The fish balls were then shipped to the European Union, and served on the dining tables overseas.

“For overseas residents, Hengyang Fish Balls are a nostalgic dish. Whenever I visit Hengyang, I always bring back several bags of fish balls. It used to be difficult to find Hengyang Fish Balls overseas, but now that they are exported, it’s much more convenient for us to purchase them,” said a European Union customer.

Hengyang Fish Balls differ from the traditional round fish balls commonly found in the market and instead have a shuttle-like shape.

Renowned for their unique appearance and taste, Hengyang Fish Balls are an indispensable dish for birthdays, celebrations, and festivals among the locals. The history of making fish balls in Hengyang is long-standing, and the local government is focusing on promoting this “nostalgic dish” as a local specialty to expand its market.

Hengyang Boge Modern Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. is the largest fish ball production company in Hengyang. According to Zhou Bo, the company’s chairman, Hengyang Fish Balls are made from large yellow-skinned grass carp.

They are boneless and have a deliciously chewy texture, making them a geographic indication product of Hengyang. The company has improved the production process of Hengyang Fish Balls, preserving their original flavor while making them suitable for large-scale industrial production and ensuring their freshness and quality.

Currently, Hengyang Fish Balls have been approved to use the trademark of the “National Geographic Indication Product” and their production techniques have been recognized as an intangible cultural heritage project in Hengyang City’s Zhuhui District.

“Freshly cooked fish balls are smooth, tender and white as fat. The freshness of grass carp, the fragrance of scallions and ginger, and the smooth egg whites create a truly delicious taste,” said diners.

In recent years, local companies have actively participated in agricultural product exhibitions, actively promoting Hengyang Fish Balls.

At the same time, they have established the Douyin livestreaming bases and collaborated with internet celebrities to promote sales through livestreaming. The product has gained popularity among customers.

This export to the European Union is the first time that Boge Modern Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. has sold its fish balls overseas. “We hope that overseas Chinese can taste Hengyang Fish Balls and find memories of their hometown,” Zhou Bo explained.

Currently, the company has supported 129 entrepreneurs, and created jobs for 280 people, with an annual sales revenue of 20 million yuan.

Zhajiang rice noodles often provokes Hengyang people’s nostalgia for their homeland. Nowadays, more and more tourists visit Hengyang just for a bowl of fresh and delicious Zhajiang rice noodles.

The aroma of rice noodles fills the air in the main store of Hunan Zhajiang Rice Noodles Industry Co., Ltd.

“Zhajiang rice noodles, as thin as silk and as white as snow, are made through 18 processes like washing, soaking, grinding, aging, pressing, and cooling,” said a staff member.

The store serves Zhajiang rice noodles with fish soup and fermented chilies, which are highly favored by tourists. Vendors set up small stalls at the entrance of the store. They dry Zhajiang rice noodles and sell them, which is known as a “side job” for local people.

In 2022, Zhajiang rice noodles was listed as a time-honored brand in Hunan. In recent years, Hengyang County has made efforts to explore the transformation and upgrading of the Zhajiang rice noodles industry, and empower traditional industries with modern technology and marketing management concepts, to inject new vitality into time-honored brands.

In Hunan, many people start their day with a bowl of rice noodles. However, a bowl of rice noodles, along with a fried glutinous rice cake, is a more authentic breakfast for people in Hengshan County of Hengyang City.

Fried glutinous rice cake is a traditional handmade snack with a history of over 1,000 years. The main raw materials include glutinous rice, medicinal koji, oil, sugar, etc. Through multiple production processes, the kneaded rice balls are finally pressed into flat round pieces. They are then fried in a hot oil pan until both sides turn golden. Nowadays, it has also become a must for Hengshan people to treat guests.

Based on the cooking skills of their ancestors, inheritors also add ingredients that nourish the stomach, control sugar, and aid digestion in the production process to make the fried glutinous rice cake more delicate and healthier, further promoting the development of Hengshan’s fried glutinous rice cake production techniques.

Made from beans, flour and varied vegetables, vegetarian dishes are delicate and delicious. Some dishes taste just like those cooked with meat. All these nutritious and attractive vegetarian dishes are another good example to demonstrate the profound influence of Buddhism upon local culture and society.

No.8 Incredible Dish
Restaurant: Nan Yue Telegraphy Restaurant
Poducer: Liu Peng  

Incredible dish, usually called the prime vegetarian pork, is a leading Southern Mountain Buddhist vegetarian dish. According to legend, Emperor Huizong in Song Dynasty ate it in the Southern Mountain Road. The dish is made with winter melon, but sometimes it is hard to distinguish it from pork. Viewing the food’s shape and color, it is no difference with the real pork in the bowl. Taste it, it is like meat, but it is not meat. Emperor Huizong kept saying "incredible". Nowadays, Incredible food is the dish made with melon.  

The crayfishis stir-fried with pepper, aniseed, fennel, garlic, ginger, wine and other seasoning. It is very spicy, but one cannot help eating it again and again.