Huizhou cuisine originated from Huizhou Prefecture in the Southern Song Dynasty (now composed of Huangshan City, Wuyuan County of Jiangxi Province, and Jixi County of the Xuancheng City of Anhui Province). Huizhou cuisine is a local feature of ancient Huizhou, and its unique geographical and cultural environment gives it a unique taste. Due to the rise of Hui merchants in the Ming and Qing dynasties, this local flavor gradually spread to the surrounding areas, spreading in Su, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shanghai, Hubei, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, having a wide influence. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it once ranked first among the eight major cuisines.

Hui cuisine inherits the tradition of the same origin of medicine and food in the motherland and pays attention to food tonic, which is one of the major features of Hui cuisine. Its flavor is mainly spicy. Hui cuisine is especially famous for its cooking, stewing, fumigation, and steaming, while it rarely uses fried and stir-fried dishes. Anhui cuisine is heavy in oil, color, and fire. Refire-making has always been practiced, and its uniqueness is mainly reflected in kung fu dishes that are good at cooking, stewing, fuming, and steaming. Different dishes use different fire control techniques to form crisp, tender, fragrant, and fresh flavors. Among them, smooth cooking, clear stew, and raw fuming are the most distinctive features of the Hui style.

Advantaged conditions have become a strong material guarantee for the development of Huizhou cuisine. At the same time, Huizhou's various customs, etiquette, and seasonal activities have also strongly promoted the formation and development of Huizhou cuisine.

Representative dishes of Anhui cuisine: smelly mandarin fish, hairy tofu, the best pot, etc.