Yao nationality in Xiangxi is forced to migrate frequently in history and influenced by other ethnic minorities, so its daily diet is similar to that of Miao, Tujia and Dong nationalities in Xiangxi. In terms of holiday diet, it has its own characteristics.

Yao people in Xiangxi celebrate the year of Ganba every year on March 3rd of the lunar calendar. On this day, men went hunting in the mountains, and women slaughtered chickens and ducks at home, dyed various kinds of glutinous rice, and prepared rich food and glutinous rice wine. In the evening, the men returned to the village, and everyone visited each other to congratulate each other, drank wine, and feasted on glutinous rice and the catch of the day.

on the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, the Yao people celebrate the "Wufan Festival". There are many opinions about the origin of this festival. Some say it's in memory of Manglietia, a filial mother. Others say it is to commemorate the Yao heroine "Yi Niang". On this day, every Yao family will eat "black rice". This kind of rice is cooked with black rice grass, yellow thatch and tender cedar tips soaked in black juice. It is said that eating black rice won't cause prickly heat, boils and other toxic sores in summer. Yao people spend "half a year" on the sixth day of June every year, and every family in Yaoshan has to kill chickens and ducks and celebrate each other by drinking.

The ancient ancestors of Yao nationality in Xiangxi used dogs as totems to worship the dog king, named "Pan Hu". Therefore, the Yao nationality in Xiangxi forbids killing dogs and eating dog meat.