Which Chinese city is known for its spicy hot pot?

Which Chinese city is known for its spicy hot pot? The answer is Chongqing.

Chongqing is particularly famous for Chongqing hot pot, a communal meal built around a simmering, intensely spicy broth. Diners cook their own ingredients at the table, choosing from beef, pork, chicken, tofu, vegetables, sausages, pig blood, and offal such as duck intestine. Sesame oil is commonly used as a dipping sauce to soften the heat.

The style is defined by málà, a combination of chili heat and the numbing sensation of Sichuan peppercorns. Traditional broths often use red chili oil, beef tallow, garlic, fermented bean paste, and spices such as bay leaf, clove, and cinnamon. Modern restaurants may substitute vegetable oil for beef fat.

Accounts trace Chongqing hot pot's beginnings to wharf workers in Jiangbei District during the 1920s. Vendors cooked inexpensive cuts, especially beef tripe, in shared pots for laborers. A Chongqing restaurant reportedly elevated the food into a more formal dish in 1934. Although Chengdu is also renowned for Sichuan hot pot, Chongqing's version is especially associated with a bold, numbing broth and offal-focused origins.