The main purpose of northern Chinese cuisine is to retain body heat in cold weather. Sichuan dishes, on the other hand, are aimed at drying the body from the inside, bearing in mind the high humidity of this region. Hot chili in sultry and humid weather creates internal interstices that act as a cooling system. In winter chili warms the body from the inside, hastening blood circulation, promoting the metabolism and accelerating digestion. Also, as foodstuffs do not keep in a warm climate, and the refrigerator is a relatively recent invention how did Chinese ancestors prevent food from going bad? With chili: a reliable destroyer of bacteria.
