Chinese people always have a sentiment for bamboo, "Food without meat is tolerable, but living without bamboo is intolerable." And now, bamboo is not only used to build houses, but also to make food. Foodies in Yunnan have an enthusiasm for bamboo to the point of addiction, using it as much as possible.
1. Bamboo baked rice
Bamboo baked rice, a feature snack, can be enjoyed mainly in Simao City, Yunnan Province. The raw material of bamboo must be the Chimonocalamus from Xishuangbanna. Bamboo baked rice is a famous Dai food in Xishuangbanna, featured by its thick scent and softness and whiteness in texture and beauty.
2. Bamboo rice
Bamboo rice is a feature food in Yunnan. It has a unique shape, rice and bamboo scent. It’s fresh and delicious.
3. Bamboo weaving duck
Bamboo weaving duck is a type of Hui food in Luxi, whose main ingredient is duck. The size of the duck is around 1 kg, and about 0.7 kg after being cooked.
Steps: Clean the duck; put the entire duck in a bamboo-weaved basket, which is later put into water for boiling, and add some salt. After the duck is cooked and cooled, take it out from the basket and cut into small chops. Finally, add some stir-fried soybean spice.
4. Dai style barbecue
The food ingredients for a Dai style barbecue are clamped together by bamboo rather than string. Unlike other barbecues, Yunnan's Dai style features a large amount of vanilla spice, which makes the barbecue strong in fragrance. Commonly used vanilla spices include: coriandrum sativum, lemongrass, galangal and hot chilli.
5. Bamboo cup steamed egg
A bamboo cup, an egg, salt and water, soaked Chinese matrimony vine and a few chopped green onions make up this dish.
Crack the egg, stir it into the water, then pour it into the bamboo cup. Steam the bamboo cup for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the Chinese matrimony vine and chopped green onion on the egg, steam for another one minute, then it's done.
6. Bamboo wine
Bamboo wine originates in minority communities, who use bamboo to hold wine – blending the fragrance of wine and bamboo with each other. Guests from remote places will be moved by the fragrance once they smell it.
For a long time, "bamboo wine" has been an important part of events like weddings. With the passage of time, the living lifestyle of the ethnic groups has changed, and tastes of "bamboo wine" differ for ethnic groups.
7. Bamboo tea
People of Dai, Hani and Jingpo ethnic groups who live in the southern part of Yunnan take bamboo tea.
They pick fresh tea leaves and boil them in a cooking pot. The leaves become soft, they are then rubbed and put into a bamboo tube, sealed and fermented. Two or three months later, the tea leaves in the bamboo tube turn yellow.
When ready, the bamboo tube is cut open, the tea leaves are taken out and then dried in the air. After that, they’re put into an earthen jar and sesame oil is added to soak them. Then they are ready to be taken out as a vegetable dish at any time.
8. Bamboo shoot
Bamboo shoot has been regarded as a "treasure in cuisine" since ancient times in China. Bamboo shoot is a traditional dish, crispy and with a sweet taste. It dates back a long time. Bamboo shoot even appears in sentences of "The Book of Songs", which shows that the edible bamboo shoot can be traced back to 2500, or even 3000 years ago.
9. Bamboo chicken
Bamboo chicken is a famous traditional dish for Yunnan's Hani people. The use of bamboo in the cooking process has a long history. And to date, many ethnic minorities retain the traditional bamboo cooking method.
They have bamboos all over the mountains, and the bamboo-cooked food is tasty and features a faint scent, with the Hani people's bamboo chicken among the dishes. It combines the fresh and tasty chicken and the faint scent of bamboo, while taking on a sticky and soft texture.
10. Bamboo worm
Bamboo worm, also known as bamboo maggot, nibbles nutrients from the tender bamboo shoots. Inside bamboo tubes, they will grow from as small as a grain of rice to the size of a finger. They nibble from the tip of the bamboo downwards to the root. They stop when they are full and prepare to break out from their cocoon.
Yunnan
Yunnan
