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Zhuang

The Zhuang ethnic minority has the largest population among all Chinese minorities. Zhuangs mainly reside in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region andYunnanProvince; most of them live inWenshanZhuang-MiaoAutonomousPrefecture. More than 70% of the land in Wenshan is in subtropical climate, and most
Zhuangs live in waterside areas in the plain, with fertile land, plentiful rain and rich resources. The crops go ripe twice or three times a year. It is suitable for the growing of glutinous rice and other paddy rice.

Zhuangs take paddy rice as the staple food. They are good at making glutinous food, among which five-color glutinous rice, puffed rice candy, andKaofang(big glutinous dumpling) are delicacies in festive occasions. The colorful rice is dyed with the extract of plants with different colors, and then
cooked. The glutinous dumpling has many varieties, and is big in size. It usually weighs about 1kg each, in the shape of a pillow.

When offering sacrifice to gods or ancestors, people will carry big dumplings to parade along the streets.

People in some places in Jingxi of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region often eatFengmo, a kind of big glutinous dumplings, on the New Year’s Day. They add salt, aniseed powder, pepper powder and ginger to glutinous rice, mix them evenly, and wrap them into bamboo tube shape or square shape with
leavesofDongjing(a kind of plant). The glutinous dumplings are often stuffed with meat or green grams. Puffed glutinous rice and glutinous rice cake are sweet food, and are often served on holidays. Zhuangs have the habit of making pickles, including sour cabbage, sour bamboo shoots, salty radish,
and kohlrabi, etc.

Zhuangs abstain from no meat. They love hunting and cooking wild animals and eating insects.

Zhuangs are careful about the dietetic rites on holidays and festivals, with rules for the dishes and ways of cooking. They eat meat-stuffed bean curd rolls on the Spring Festival and taros on the Mid-autumn Day.

Before meals, they will take a little from each dish and let the dog eat first.

In the past, the mountainous regions in western Guangxi lacked in salt and iodine. The Zhuangs living there had a special festival named Sending Thyroid Gland Disease Away Day on lunar January 30, when they caught fish and shrimps, ate glutinous rice, put food in empty eggshells and threw them
into rivers in hope of sending away diseases. Five-color eggs are also food for festivals. Zhuangs dye boiled hen’s eggs, duck’s eggs and goose’s eggs with four colors, and one egg is of the original color. The eggs are usually eaten with five-color rice. Children often string the colored eggs and
play the bumping egg game.

Zhuangs have done much study on the dietetic effects of notoginseng, and make use of the flower, leaf, root and tendril of the plant to cook special dishes. Apart from curing injuries, they more often use the plant as a kind of health food to prevent cardiovascular diseases and keep fit. Japanese
also think notoginseng from Yunnan Province has anti-cancer effect.

Zhuangs know how to brew rice wine, sweet potato wine and cassava wine.

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