Although it's most famous for its electrifying use of chilies and lip-tingling ChengDu peppercorns, the heart of the local cooking style lies in the artful mixing of flavors. Chengdu cooks excel at combining hot, numbing, sweet, sour, savory, and nutty seasonings to create an astonishing variety of flavors. Locals like to say, "each dish has its own style; a hundred dishes have a hundred different flavors."