Wu - 'Ethnic Foods' and Regional Identity

Wu explains that the since there are so many different ethnicities in the Enshi Prefecture, the people there are more separated by their lineage than their ethnicity. As a result the Enshi people are not perceived to have their own identity as a culture. Their identity is associated with the food that they eat. Before there were a variety of ethnicities in the area, the identity of the Enshi food was regarded as using "dry land crops and wild food plants" and "mountain farmer’s food." However, with the recent rise in popularity of the Hezha food (locally made food) restaurants in the area, this concept changed. Hezha food has now come to symbolise the Enshi culture.

The Hezha food patterns have 4 main patterns: sour (such as pickled vegetables), sweet (such as sweet wine), glutinous (sticky rice and seasonings), and hot (such as a variety of pepper dishes).

A problem that I had with this article was what seemed to be a contradiction in Wu’s statement. Wu stated that there was not an Enshi identity, but then later stated that the Hezha food brought the identity of "mountain farmer’s food" away from the Enshi identity. I also found it difficult to determine when Wu was referring to food identity or personal identity throughout the article.

Question: Why does Wu state that the Chinese culture discourages the creation of ethnicities because it creates a hierarchy, yet tries to give the Enshi culture an identity?