Yesterday, the family celebrated Dragon Boat Festival for the second time here in Austin. What is Dragon Boat Festival? Here's a brief summary:
"The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC - 278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu, in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty. A descendant of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance. Qu Yuan was accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry, for which he is now remembered. Twenty-eight years later, Qin conquered the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month.
It is said that the local people, who admired him, threw food into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi. The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing."
We didn't go to any dragon boat races, but we did buy several "zongzi", which is basically rice, pork, and mushrooms wrapped in bamboo leaves. We bought some last year from the Chinese supermarket in Chinatown, but they were awful. Somebody simply mixed rice and peanut butter together and called it a "zongzi." So this year Christy went to a Taiwan restaurant called "Wok On Fire" (also in Austin's Chinatown) and bought six. The restaurant charged $3 for each "zongzi."
"Very expensive." Christy told me. "In Taiwan, you can buy three for what they are charging for one."
She's right, but she has to realize that she's not in Taiwan anymore, and if you want a taste of your homeland food, you're going to pay more. I paid a small fortune on one Thanksgiving just trying to get turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. And I frequently had to overpay for American soda as well. While horrible soda like "Heysong Saspirilla" was a mere 12 NT per can, Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper were always anywhere from 35 to 50 NT a can.
At least the "zongzi" was actually pretty good this year.
(Picture: Kyle, examining his zogzi (rice cake) )
"The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC - 278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu, in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty. A descendant of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance. Qu Yuan was accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry, for which he is now remembered. Twenty-eight years later, Qin conquered the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month.
It is said that the local people, who admired him, threw food into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi. The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing."
We didn't go to any dragon boat races, but we did buy several "zongzi", which is basically rice, pork, and mushrooms wrapped in bamboo leaves. We bought some last year from the Chinese supermarket in Chinatown, but they were awful. Somebody simply mixed rice and peanut butter together and called it a "zongzi." So this year Christy went to a Taiwan restaurant called "Wok On Fire" (also in Austin's Chinatown) and bought six. The restaurant charged $3 for each "zongzi."
"Very expensive." Christy told me. "In Taiwan, you can buy three for what they are charging for one."
She's right, but she has to realize that she's not in Taiwan anymore, and if you want a taste of your homeland food, you're going to pay more. I paid a small fortune on one Thanksgiving just trying to get turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. And I frequently had to overpay for American soda as well. While horrible soda like "Heysong Saspirilla" was a mere 12 NT per can, Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper were always anywhere from 35 to 50 NT a can.
At least the "zongzi" was actually pretty good this year.
(Picture: Kyle, examining his zogzi (rice cake) )
Forget the dragon boats, you missed the Kaohsiung County Pineapple and Lychee Culture Festival.
ReplyDeleteHi Ken, It's been over two weeks since we've heard from you! Hope everything is going well for you and your family. Taylor
ReplyDeleteJust taking a little break from the blog. Not too much happening right now, anyway. I'll most likely have some new stuff up for Father's Day.
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