The evolution of Sichuan cuisine undergoes a thousands-of-year long process of inheritance, creation and fusion with schools of cuisine, and the keyword of its success of today is "inclusiveness" ― the continued introduction of and fusion with ideas, elements from other sources while it has kept its own distinctive characteristics.

According to Zhang Huiqiang, significant changes have taken place in the development of Sichuan cuisine over the past 70 years, and its evolution never stops. Talking about the New-type Sichuan Cuisine, which emphasizes on the heavier use of spicy ingredients and thus has gained popularity on the market but is much disapproved by more conservative experts, Zhang said that the innovative approach may bring disagreements but eventually show its positive effects for the evolution of Sichuan cuisine. "The preservation of cultural heritages does not rely on self-restraint, but on constant learning and progressing," Zhang remarked.

In history, Sichuan cuisine has experienced great impacts since the era of the Economic Reform and Opening-up, during which it saw the flooding of the Cantonese cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Shangdong cuisine, Japanese and Korean cuisines, and Western cuisines, while the Sichuan cuisine found its way out by creating new recipes by combining its traditional ways with new styles and new ingredients from the outside, even from the Western countries.