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端午习俗

Traditions of Duan Wu

端午节的传统美食文化

Traditional Food Culture

农历五月初五是传统节日——端午节，迄今已有2000多年的历史。说起端午节的食俗，很多人的第一反应就是吃粽子。但是你知道吗，在很多地方，端午节不仅要吃粽子，还有特殊的节令食物。这些美食在千百年的文化传承与演变中，虽口味有所改变，但始终饱含着人们那份期待生活安康的心情，始终藏着人们浓浓的思乡之情。

Duan Wu Festival is a traditional celebration which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month with more than 2000 years of history. The first thing that comes to mind, when we think of traditional foods associated with this festival would be Zong Zi or rice dumplings. However, did you know, that there are many other special seasonal treats to be enjoyed in many different places during this festival? As time passes, these delicious treats may have changed with the passing down of culture and tradition through time. However, even if the taste have changed, the hopes for a stable livelihood and the longing for home embodied within will be ever present.

娘惹传统美食 Traditional Nyonya Bak Chang

用蝶豆花将糯米染成淡蓝色，用本地特色香料翻炒馅料，再加上鲜香的肉块和入口即化的冬瓜糖，这拥有着咸中带甜，甜中微辣的奇妙味道的蓝色粽子正是新马一带的华人们独有的蓝花娘惹粽。

The glutinous rice is first dyed a delicate blue using blue pea flower, then the filling is stir fried with local spices. Together with aromatic pieces of meat and candied winter melon, this makes the quintessential sweet and salty bluish tinged Nyonya Bak Chang found only in the Singapore – Malaysian region.

福建闽南“烧肉粽” Fujian Minnan Sio Bak Chang

烧肉粽是福建特有的地方传统名吃，起源于福建泉州。肉粽以香菇、虾米、芋头粒、栗子、猪肉(或鸡肉)、糯米 等为原料，制作时用卤汁和猪油翻炒糯米至半熟，再与卤猪肉、咸蛋黄、炒虾米、炒栗子等馅料混合，最后才用箬叶包裹成形。精工细作之下的烧肉粽香甜嫩滑，油润不腻。

This is a rice dumpling unique to Quanzhou in Fujian. Mushrooms, dried shrimp, yam cubes, chestnuts, pork (or chicken) and glutinous rice are used as their main ingredients. The glutinous rice is stir fried with braising liquid and pork lard till half cooked, then filled with braised pork, salted egg yolk, fried dried shrimp, chestnuts and so on before they are wrapped with bamboo leaves and cooked to aromatic perfection.

潮汕名吃“双拼粽” Chaoshan Rice Dumpling

潮汕人俗称“粽”为“粽球”,潮汕话“粽”与“壮”同音，所以端午节男女老少都吃粽求个“壮”的好彩头。讲究咸甜平衡的滋味的双拼粽是潮汕人独有的美味。半肥半瘦的猪肉，咸香的蛋黄，软软甜甜的红豆沙，大颗大颗的花生，清香的莲子，这一半咸味馅料一半甜味馅料混合而出的咸中带甜，甜中有咸的滋味在烹煮过程中，慢慢渗透入糯米里，增添粽子的鲜香。

In Chaoshan, rice dumplings ‘Zong’ have a similar pronunciation as ‘robust’. Hence, man, woman, young and old will eat rice dumplings for this symbolism during Duan Wu Festival. Chaoshan’s rice dumplings are known for its unique balance of sweet and savory, with fillings of pork, salted egg yolk, sweet red bean paste, peanuts and lotus seeds, which permeates throughout the glutinous rice as they are slowly cooked to enhance the flavour of the dumplings.

广东客家风味“咸肉粽” Cantonese and Hakka Rice Dumplings

广东和客家的咸肉粽，主要材料和福建烧肉粽一样，也是猪肉、冬菇、咸蛋黄和虾米；但广东人会多加一些花生粉和绿豆沙，有时还加入瑶柱、干贝、腊肠，甚至叉烧；客家人则加入花生碎、萝卜干和蒜头粒，有时也会加入少许红豆。

Both Cantonese and Hakka rice dumplings have the same main ingredients as the Fujian ones – pork, mushrooms, salted egg yolk and dried shrimp. However the Cantonese will add in some peanut powder and green bean paste, and sometimes even conpoy, dried scallops, Chinese sausage or barbeque pork. The Hakkas on the other hand, will add crushed peanuts, preserved radish, garlic and even red beans.

江浙“五黄餐” Zhejiang ‘Wu Huang Can’

在杭州、嘉兴等地，民间在端午节吃“五黄”的食俗由来已久。“五黄餐”是指把五种黄颜色的食物混在一起吃，通常有黄鱼、黄鳝、黄瓜、咸蛋黄及雄黄酒。中医理论认为，端午节是一年中阳气最盛的时候，可利用端午节气的力量，抑制霉运、提升自己的精力。

In Hangzhou, Jiaxing and some other places, people practise eating ‘Wu Huang’ or ‘Five Yellow Dish’ during Duan Wu Festival. This dish comprises of five different yellow coloured ingredients like yellow croaker, eel, cucumber, salted egg yolk and realgar wine. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is said that Duan Wu Festival occurs at the time of the year when Yang energy is most prevalent and hence this energy should be harnessed to ward off bad luck and increase vitality.

温州“薄饼” Wenzhou ‘Bo Bing’

温州地区，端午节家家还有吃薄饼的习俗。采用精白面粉调成糊状，在又大又平的铁煎锅中，烤成一张张形似圆月，薄如绢帛的半透明饼，然后用绿豆芽、韭菜、肉丝、蛋丝、香菇等作馅，卷成圆筒状，一口咬下去，多层次的丰富口感让人回味无穷。

In Wenzhou, every family follows the tradition of eating Bo Bing during Duan Wu Festival. A batter is made from flour and pieces of round, thin, translucent crepes are made on a big flat griddle. Beansprouts, Chinese chives, strips of meat, egg and mushrooms are placed on a piece of crepe and rolled up into a cylindrical shape, with each bite giving you multiple layers of flavour that fully saturates your taste buds.

江西“立蛋” Jiangxi ‘Li Dan’

在江西一带，人们有端午节吃茶叶蛋和咸鸭蛋的习俗，并且喜欢在煮好的蛋壳上涂上红色，再用五颜六色的网袋装起来，挂在小孩子的脖子上，祝福孩子逢凶化吉、平安无事。

In Jiangxi, there is a custom of eating tea eggs and salted eggs during Duan Wu Festival. They also like to dye cooked eggs a red colour and put them in colourful mesh bags, then hang them around the necks of little children to ward off bad luck and keep them safe.

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