Similar to Kai Tahu Māori, who have preserved their ritual of the Titi harvest. What aspects of culinary identity have your family preserved across generations and how may this have changed over time?
Part of my families cultural identity is preparing zongzi to share for Tuen1 Ng5 Jit3. The preparation of zongzi has stayed a Liu family secret for decades. It’s jokingly said, “You’re no Liu until you can zongzi.” My nana is the pedantic co-ordinator of the zongzi. She has her own ‘pure’ Liu family way of preparing, which has never been altered. Until… me.
I’ve always found it ridiculous that we would invite our friends over to zongzi feasts, give away bags filled to our neighbours and visitors but stay cheeky about our recipe. This culture of secrecy and stubborn pride within my family seemed unnecessary to me. Weren’t ‘they’ a part of ‘us’, “insiders” to the Liu family group? I told them so.
Our visitors were ecstatic! Nobody in our home village of 5,000 people knew that recipe. Soon, our street was swarming with chatter and zongzi bellies. But my nana didn’t make anymore that year.
Next year came around and six families had come to our door offering my nana bags of zongzi, begging her to try their variations and wondering if they could help us cook them. The diversity, the scents, colours, variations of leaf, size and fillings brought her to joyful tears.
Every year is better, the Liu family table gets bigger as we welcome more people to try their hand at zongzi. Every year, the zongzi looks uglier as it diverges from the ‘pure’ original to something more about sharing than secrets.
Acknowledgements
As Catherine Manton writes, “A cuisine […] is a categorization that helps society’s members define themselves. This sort of societal self-definition establishes who are the insiders or outsiders to that group.”
Chloë Taylor, “Foucault and the Ethics of Eating,” Foucault and Animals, edited by Matthew Chrulew and Dinesh Wadiwel (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 317-338 quoting Catherine Manton, Fed Up: Women and Food in America (Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey, 1999), 6.
I love zongzi! They’re delicious and I really enjoyed hearing about your family story, I also belong to a Liu family, although none of us know how to make zongzi, we just buy them from bakeries or order them at yum cha. I would love to learn how to make them one day though!
I think your story speaks so much about the beauty of food and community. Culture will always be a concept that changes and evolves, and food is a physical form of evidence which also brings the creation of many more dishes that all came from one item. By embracing change we also embrace the idea of transformation, improvements, and the possibility of new ideas. It’s heartwarming to read that your nana was so moved by the different zongi, I hope each year more zongzi and more people will arrive at your doorstep!
I love this post – such a cute story and it has some amazing points on the importance of food to your family’s identity, as well as the mystery of the Zongzi recipe bringing together a little community!