Zhuang is the most populous ethnic group in China, mainly living in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province, most of which are located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. More than 70% of Wenshan's land belongs to subtropical climate, while Zhuang people mostly live in Pingba waterfront area, with fertile land, abundant rainfall and rich products. Crops can be cooked twice or three times a year, which is suitable for planting glutinous rice and other rice, so it is called "Water Margin". Among them, the eight-treasure rice in Guangnan is particularly famous and was once a tribute. Wenshan's "Sanqi" has a long-standing reputation in the world, and Qiubei pepper, Funing octagonal and other condiments are quite famous.
The staple food of Zhuang people is rice, and they are good at making glutinous rice food. Five-color glutinous rice, rice sugar and roast square (big zongzi) are the most wonderful highlights of the festival. Flower rice is dyed with the juice of various colors of plants and then steamed. There are many kinds of zongzi, and they are all very big. Generally, each one is about 1 kg, which is shaped like a pillow. Zongzi made in Ningming County, Guangxi during the Spring Festival is the size of a square table. Wrapped in banana leaves, pork is inside, and it is packed in a water tank. Cook for 7 days in a row before cooking.
People marched in the street with big zongzi and offered sacrifices to the handles. There is a kind of zongzi made of palm leaves called "horseshoe pole", which is made by dyeing glutinous rice black with plant ash and adding star anise powder and bacon.
Some places in Jingxi, Guangxi are happy to eat "Fengmo" rice during the New Year, which is also a kind of big meal. The method is to mix glutinous rice with salt, spiced powder, pepper and ginger, and wrap the leaves of winter essence (a plant) in a bamboo tube or square. There is a lot of meat or mung bean stuffing in the brown rice cake. Both glutinous rice flowers and glutinous rice cakes are sweets and are often eaten during festivals. Daily vegetables include green vegetables, melon seedlings, melon leaves, Beijing cabbage (Chinese cabbage), Chinese cabbage, rape, mustard, lettuce, celery, spinach, kale, spinach, bitter gourd, even bean leaves, sweet potato leaves, pumpkin seedlings, pumpkin flowers and pea seedlings can also be vegetables. Boiling is the most common, as well as the habit of pickling vegetables, such as sauerkraut, sour bamboo shoots, salted radish, kohlrabi and so on. Add lard, salt and chopped green onion when cooking.
Zhuang people love to eat any kind of animal meat, such as pork, beef, mutton, chickens, ducks and geese. Zhuang people also like hunting and cooking game and insects. In some areas, they also like to eat dog meat. Pork is also cooked in whole pieces, then cut into square pieces, and then put the seasoning back into the pot. Zhuang people are used to making fresh chicken, duck, fish and vegetables into 70-80% maturity, and then frying the vegetables in a hot pot before cooking, so as to keep the dishes delicious.
Every year, the Zhuang people are very particular about the food ceremony, and the dishes and eating methods have their own rules. For example, "Don't eat Tuanjieyuan (tofu balls with meat stuffing) in the New Year, and drinking and chewing meat is not sweet." Tuanjieyuan is made of pork paste and seasonings such as tofu, fish and shrimp, mixed into stuffing, made into nine pieces and fried. The host was not annoyed by "stealing lessons" at midnight (secretly going to other countries to pick melons and vegetables for cooking), but was very happy. Taro in Mid-Autumn Festival, flat rice in spring, and a sense of freshness among neighbors.
"Ten Plots" hold happy events, fishing, killing chickens, steaming steamed buns, preparing wine and enjoying friends and relatives all over the world. Every year when rice is ripe, it is necessary to celebrate the New Year's Day, and the time varies from place to place. Before meals, every meal should be served to the dog. In the past, the Xishan area in Guangxi lacked salt and iodine. On the 30th day of the first month, the "Big Neck Festival" is celebrated. People fish and shrimp, eat glutinous rice, put food into empty eggshells and throw it into the river, which is considered as a big neck. Five-colored eggs are also holiday food. Dye the cooked chicken, duck and goose eggs in four colors, and then add a natural egg. Often eat with colorful rice. The children strung the eggs together and played egg-touching.
There is a lot of research on diet therapy of Panax notoginseng. Cooking with flowers, leaves and roots of Panax notoginseng is very distinctive. Besides treating traumatic bleeding, Panax notoginseng is increasingly used as a health food for preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases and strengthening the body. The Japanese also believe that Yunnan Sanqi has the function of inhibiting cancer.
Zhuang people also brew rice wine, sweet potato wine and cassava wine, which are not too high. Among them, yellow rice wine is the main drink for festivals and entertainments. Some yellow rice wines are called chicken gall and chicken offal wine, and chicken offal and pig liver wine. Drink the chicken offal wine and pork liver wine in one gulp, and chew the chicken offal and pork liver left in your mouth slowly, which can not only relieve the hangover, but also be eaten as a dish.