What do you mean, "ants climb trees"?

Ant on the Tree is a Sichuan dish, which is made by mixing minced meat and vermicelli with spicy seasoning. The fried minced meat and tender vermicelli filled with spicy seasoning fully show the spicy taste of Sichuan cuisine. It is named after the tiny minced meat distributed on the vermicelli like ants, just like ants climbing a tree. Because the main ingredients of "ants on the tree" are minced meat and vermicelli, it is also commonly known as "minced meat vermicelli".

According to legend, its origin is also related to Dou E in In the snow.

There was a Dou E in Chuzhou who lost his mother at the age of three, and his father Dou Tianzhang was a poor scholar. In order to take the exam in Beijing, Dou E, who was only seven years old, was sold to her creditor, Cai Popo, as a child bride, so that she could pay off her debts and was taken care of. Cai's mother-in-law, who lost her husband in her early years, had a son, so she decided to let them grow up and get married, so she adopted Dou Mo.

Ten years later, Dou E changed from a child bride to the daughter-in-law of the Cai family. She lived a loving life with her husband for two or three years, which was only a pity. Soon her husband died of illness and her sad mother-in-law fell ill.

In order to cure her mother-in-law's illness, Dou E spent a lot of money, seeking famous doctors and using noble medicinal materials, and in order to recuperate her mother-in-law's health, three meals were full of delicious food. Although her mother-in-law's illness was getting better, she also spent all her family's wealth and her family's expenses were in trouble.

But in order for her mother-in-law to get well soon, Dou E had to pull her face down and go to the meat stall for credit. The butcher said, "You haven't paid off the money you owed twice before, so you can't owe any more today." Dou E had to ask again and again, but the butcher had no choice but to give her only a small piece of meat.

Dou E stared at this small piece of meat and was thinking about how to cook it. When she happened to see a handful of vermicelli in the cupboard, she had an epiphany. She softened the handful of vermicelli with water, patiently cut the small piece of meat into small pieces, and stir-fried it with some onions, ginger, peppers and soy sauce, which turned into a large plate of fragrant fried vermicelli and served it to her mother-in-law in the hospital bed.

The mother-in-law asked, "What dish do you fry? It smells so good?" Dou E replied: "Stir-fried fans, eat while it is hot!" Before moving chopsticks, the old-eyed mother-in-law saw many small black spots like ants on the fans. Her mother-in-law asked, "How can there be ants on this fan?" Dou E wept bitterly: "Daughter-in-law is unfilial! In order to treat her mother-in-law and recuperate her health, she spent all her family's wealth. Because she had no money to buy meat, she could only get a small piece of meat on credit and cut it into tiny minced meat, just like ants with small black spots, which made her mother-in-law frightened! " When the mother-in-law understood the reason, she quickly took a bite with chopsticks and said, "I am a filial daughter-in-law, darling, don't cry!" Such delicious fried fans, let's call it' ants on the tree'! " Dou E burst into tears and smiled: "Well! Good call! It really looks like an ant climbing a tree! Just call it' ants on the tree'!