Exploring the features of a cuisine full of Asian culture

Imagine sitting in front of a gigantic pot, watching soup broth come to a frantic boil and unleash swirls of aromatic steam. It’s hot, sputtering loudly, and smells like heaven on earth — but that’s not all. Surrounding the pot are countless small dishes holding food ranging from bright red meat to chopped up greens. This is the beauty of a very popular style of Asian cuisine known as hot pot, and there is so much about it to discover. 

History 

Hot pot originally came from China. According to the Vegas Hotpot restaurant, back in the Jin Dynasty, Mongolian horsemen gathered together and used their helmets to boil soup over a fire and then added meat into the soup to cook and eat. 

Even though China tried to resist the Mongols, they couldn’t resist their style of eating. In fact, in their G Adventures article, travel bloggers Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott explain that China ended up mimicking the Mongolian style of soup and modifying it to make their own version — the hot pot people are familiar with today. Eventually, hot pot evolved into a dish that, like China, many other Asian countries accepted and made their own. 

Photos by Hanzhi Chen