The Li people mainly live in the Wuzhi Mountain area of ??Hainan Province in southern China. It is located in the subtropical zone with beautiful scenery and charming scenery.

The Li people are accustomed to eating three meals a day, with rice as their staple food and sometimes some miscellaneous grains. It is customary to store the harvested rice ears in the warehouse, and when eating, take a handful and thresh them in a wooden mortar. The first way to make rice is to cook it in a clay pot or iron pot, which is roughly the same as the Han Chinese method of stewing rice.

The other is a very unique picnic method, that is, take off a bamboo tube, put an appropriate amount of rice and water in it, roast it in the fire, and cut open the bamboo tube to take out the rice during the meal. It is the famous "bamboo tube rice".

If you mix the hunted game and lean meat with fragrant glutinous rice and a small amount of salt, put it into a bamboo tube and burn it into fragrant glutinous rice, it will be fragrant and it is a delicacy for entertaining guests.

Fragrant glutinous rice is a specialty of the Li area. Stewed rice with fragrant glutinous rice is praised as "one family cooks fragrant rice, and hundreds of families smell the fragrant rice."

"Gotuple Root" is a kind of wild vegetable often eaten by Li people. It is a very delicious delicacy when cooked with small fish, shrimp or meat bones in the river; "Gotuple Root" can also be used medicinally. Anti-inflammatory and detoxifying. "Nansha" is a side dish that Li people used to eat, but the hygienic conditions for making "Nansha" are difficult to control, and it is rarely made and eaten now.

"Xiang" is a delicacy of the Li people. It can only be eaten during festivals or when distinguished guests come to visit. There are two types: "fish tea" and "meat tea".

The Li family likes to eat rat meat, whether it is mountain rats, voles, house mice, or squirrels. Every household has a bamboo mousetrap. Dozens of them can be installed at a time, and dozens of mice can be caught the next day. The Li people are accustomed to burning the captured rats to remove their hair, remove their internal organs, wash them, put some salt, ginger and other seasonings inside, roast them over a fire or cook them before eating them.

Most Li compatriots are addicted to alcohol, and most of the wine they drink is home-brewed low-alcohol rice wine, sweet potato wine, and cassava wine. The wine brewed from Shanlan rice is a well-known fine wine and is often given as a valuable gift. The Li family often uses this wine to entertain distinguished guests. In some places, it is customary to use small bamboo tubes to drink wine and toast guests.

Compatriots of the Li ethnic group like to chew betel nut. The way to eat it is to cut the betel nut into petals, wrap it with Zanthus leaves, add lime paste and shredded tobacco, put it in your mouth and chew it carefully. It can make people feel like they have drunk wine, The face is red and full of energy. Regular consumption of betel nut also has the effects of preventing, curing and beautifying diseases. Therefore, compatriots of the Li ethnic group regard betel nut as a food for health and longevity.

Under the conditions of tropical geographical environment, the Li people’s eating style has a unique style. Diet is the center of attention for everyone every day. With the development of social productivity, diet is constantly improving. The traditional food customs of the Li people are very rich in form and content, and have formed a unique food culture.

The staple food of the Li people is divided into the following categories:

1. Rice. The material is rice. Rice is divided into three types: white rice, red rice and glutinous rice. The process of making rice is to light a fire on a triangular stone stove and set a pot. After boiling the water in the pot, press the rice under the water and stir evenly with a spoon. The heat is moderate. When the rice is half cooked, cover the pot, take out the firewood from the stove, and use the residual heat of the charcoal to simmer the rice into fragrant rice.

2. Shanlan rice. Shanlan rice is of good quality and rich in nutrients. When cooked into rice, it is fragrant and fragrant. It is the top dish for the Li family to welcome guests.

3. Bamboo tube rice. Soak the rice in water, drain it, add lean meat, five spices and an appropriate amount of salt, mix well and fill it into a bamboo tube (made from raw mangosteen or young bamboo grown at home), then fill it with an appropriate amount of water and plug it with banana leaves. seal. Then put the bamboo tube into the fire and slowly roast it to make bamboo tube dry rice. In Li language, bamboo tube rice is called "Meiwan". Bamboo tube rice is fragrant and delicious. People often bring bamboo tube rice with them when they travel far. Bamboo tube rice is also made during festive seasons. Bamboo tube rice is not easy to spoil and can be stored for a week. Contemporary bamboo tube rice has become a good delicacy for people to taste Li family flavor at hotel banquets.

4. Sweet potato rice. Every household of the Li ethnic group grows sweet potatoes. The preparation of sweet potato rice is quite unique: wash the raw sweet potatoes and cut them into small pieces, add the rice first and then add the sweet potatoes when they are half cooked. Mix 30% of the rice and 20% of the sweet potatoes to make porridge or dry rice. The other is to cut the sweet potatoes into small slices, dry them in the sun, and mix them with rice to make porridge. Eating sweet potato porridge in summer is sweet and delicious, cooling and antipyretic, and has health care effects.

5. Pumpkin rice. In Wuzhishan area, people often cook pumpkin rice. When making pumpkin rice, first peel off the melon skin and remove the pulp, cut the melon flesh into small pieces, mix it with rice and cook it into porridge or dry rice. Or mix glutinous rice with pumpkin meat, steam it into rice in a steamer, and pound it with a wooden mortar to make pumpkin rice balls. This is a unique flavor.

6. Turmeric rice. Pound the raw yellow ginger and boil rice with the yellow ginger water. The rice is yellow in color and has a unique fragrance. It has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying, and can replenish the body of pregnant women.

7. Corn rice. In mountainous areas, corn is often planted in mountain gardens, and the harvested corn is threshed and dried in the sun. Put the dried corn kernels into a wooden mortar, add an appropriate amount of water, grind the corn into small pieces, and use a dustpan to remove the husks, keeping even corn kernels. It can be boiled into corn porridge, or mixed with rice and cooked into dry rice. Corn rice is rich in nutrients and is one of the staple foods of the Li family.

In addition to the above, there are also mountain potato rice, mountain fruit rice, pound potato rice, bun fruit rice, chicken head fruit rice, etc.

In the dietary structure of the Li people, dishes Rich categories. There are home-grown pumpkins, gourds, winter melons, papayas, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, leeks, radishes, lotus roots, Chinese cabbage, water spinach and other vegetables. The main wild vegetables include fungus, mountain mushroom, potato, mountain bamboo shoot, Linen, Ziwen, Zigan, Bufan, white cauliflower, Gotu Kola, etc.

Meat includes poultry (chicken, duck, goose), livestock (cow, sheep, pig), etc.

Li men and women are good at fishing. Men usually like to go up the mountains to install various hunting equipment to catch rats, birds, snakes and wild boars, as well as Wuzhishan tortoises, golden turtles and other wild animals. They are also good at fishing in rivers. Water turtle, Tuan fish and Ma carp etc. During slack seasons and festivals, the whole village gathers in the mountains to let dogs hunt wild boars, yellow pheasants, wild deer, etc., and smoke and dry the meat for later consumption. The Li people work in the fields every day. Men carry knife baskets and women carry small waist baskets to catch field frogs, field crabs, rice shrimps and other animals, and then cook them at home and eat them. The dishes are fresh and nutritious.

Li cuisine is accustomed to cooking meat and vegetables together, or mixing several vegetables. Salt is the main seasoning of dishes, and chili pepper is a daily condiment on the table. The Li people live in tropical areas and prefer light food and eat less fried food. In the traditional diet of the Li people, in addition to the above-mentioned dishes, there are also glutinous rice dumplings and glutinous rice balls with unique flavors. During every festive occasion and when visiting relatives and friends, rice dumplings and glutinous rice balls are made.

Fruits and snacks of Li people. In daily life, there are domestically grown lychees, longans, mangoes, pineapples, carambolas, yellow peels, jackfruit, bananas, sugar cane, sour beans, etc.; the other is wild fruits, such as Baoziguo, Chungao, Chunba, and Mountain Pomegranate. wait. Both domestic and wild fruits are seasonal fruits. Popcorn, baked sweet potatoes and cassava are the Li family’s snacks.

Li people love life. In terms of living habits, wine is an indispensable drink in people's daily lives. During festivals, weddings, funerals, entering a new house, giving birth, socializing, and holding religious ceremonies, banquets and drinking are all required. Drinking wine is also used as a courtesy when greeting guests. The Li people are warm and hospitable, and wine is a common ritual. They often toast and sing antiphons all night long, forming their own wine culture.

The Li people’s eating style has changed, and they generally learn the cooking techniques of the Han people.