Chinese festival going global with dragon boats

Family-made Zongzi

Traditional Chinese festivals can always be tasted, and the Dragon Boat Festival is no exception.

Zongzi, a glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves in cone- or pyramid-like shapes, is the special treat and delicacy on the festival table.

It was purely good luck that led Frank, a German visitor who only gave his first name, into Lao Sze Chuan in downtown Chicago on Sunday, who ordered for friends a debuted special offer by the Chinese restaurant.

It was a Zongzi stuffed with pork and duck egg yolk amid rice. "It's really a good combination of flavors, I really enjoyed it... It's worth a shot," he commented. "I was actually quite surprised."

The restaurant said guests consumed more than 280 pieces of Zongzi in less than three hours. But for Richard Hennessy, it was more than a pleasing dining experience -- he took the invitation to make Zongzi with the help of cooks.

Hennessy believed the Zongzi he made was the star of the night. "It's a great fun. Now we can go home and practice some more," he said.

Although modern life facilitations enable the Zongzi made in China to be only a few clicks away, restaurant owner Tony Hu plans to make Zongzi-making a Dragon Boat Festival routine. "Chinese food is the easiest way for them to know China, and cut short their distance with Chinese people," said Hu.

Zongzi has been a food mostly family-made in China, and many Chinese learn the knacks of making it from their parents. It is a good example to show traditional Chinese values -- the cooking activity calls for collaboration among family members, with its results shared by all.

For many Chinese, making Zongzi never fails to evoke a feeling of being at home.

"On a festival like this, we want to help with the homesickness of Chinese living abroad, and introduce traditional Chinese culture to people here," said Zuqi Su, co-owner of Chinese restaurant Jasmine in downtown Manhattan, New York, which offered a Zongzi making workshop on Saturday and Sunday.

Anirudh Singh did his homework on Chinese culture before participating in the restaurant's Dragon Boat Festival celebration.

"The fishermen threw rice in the river to make sure the fish didn't eat Qu Yuan's body, right?" he said."I learnt all about it before I came here."

Do It Yourself was partly why the workshop charmed Thomas Hasler, an Austrian among the more than 100 participants.

"I enjoy this so much," he said. "I eat out a lot at Chinese restaurants, but being able to make something has been so much more fun."