Hotpot, Mapo Tofu and Fish Filets in Hot Chili Oil（水煮鱼） —these dishes are well-known names in China. And they all have one thing common: They're very numbing （麻的） and spicy（辣的）."Numbing and spicy" is a special phrase which is used （describe） Sichuan food. Generally, Sichuan cooks are good at using Pixian Broad Bean Paste（郫县豆瓣）. It （see）as "the soul（灵魂） of Sichuan dishes" by many people. As result, they are quite different from the dried and spicy Hunan food and the sour and spicy Guizhou food.
However, to Sichuan dishes, there is much more than （they） numbing and spicy flavor（味道） because Sichuan cooks are able to create all kinds of flavors. So people praise Sichuan dishes, "Each dish （have） its own style; a hundred dishes have a hundred different flavors." There are at （little） 24 kinds of flavors in Sichuan dishes and only one-third of them are spicy. Some dishes are neither numbing spicy, like sweet and sour fish.
Visitors to Sichuan are surprised at so many （choice） they have for food. Sichuan is （certain） a great place to start your Chinese food journey.
