Taste the colorful, spicy, and delicious Chinese Miao food

The Miao are an ethnic minority, and admiring the glistening silver jewelry the women wear from head to toe, you may think they are rich. But their life is quite hard and simple because of the tough living conditions in mountainous areas of southern and southwestern China. Food showed on a table is not luxurious at all even in their holidays and big ceremonies. But the Miao have some special dishes that are different from those in most areas of China.

Colorful glutinous rice

Glutinous rice is the staple food of Miao culture. During holidays they prepare a unique colorful rice for their guests. There are five distinct colors in the rice: blue, red, white, black, and yellow. The colors are from juices of varied plants. It is beautiful, sweet and yummy.

The single women usually give colorful glutinous rice to their lovers as a present. They can put some specific things in the rice basket to tell the men if they like them or not. A bamboo hook tells the man to get an umbrella for the girl as a present. The fork of a tree means their relationship is over. A piece of a toon sprout tells they can marry soon. On their wedding day, the couple will eat glutinous rice paste with phoenix, dragon, and baby patterns on it.

Oil-tea

A very common Miao beverage is “oil-tea.”It is a everyday drink for some people. Salt, ginger, and oil are put together with the tea leaves and then fried in a wok. Then add water, and boil them together. The tea leaves are pounded into smaller pieces with a mallet and the concoction is allowed to boil for a few more minutes. The tea is then filtered and mixed together with corn, beans, peanuts, or glutinous rice, and then some spring onions, garlic, and peppers can be added.

After all this, a cup of rich, deep, and mellow oil-tea is ready.

A chopstick is usually supplied together with oil-tea. Lay the chopstick onto your bowl if you don't need tea anymore. If not, you will be continually given tea!

Sour soup

A special sour soup is served all year round. The soup is made of different steamed vegetables and fermented rice. To cook chicken, fish or meat, the Miao like to use this sour soup to give their dishes a unique sour flavor.

Spicy flavoring

In ancient times, it was very difficult for the Miao to get salt, so they used hot peppers to add flavor to their dishes and developed a taste for very spicy food. Today, minced and fried chili peppers are the main spices added into Miao dishes.

Many different ways is used to cook chili peppers. They can be baked or fried, then blended with garlic, ginger or soy sauce to have various flavor. The flavoring can be kept in a jar for long time.

Chicken and duck

The Miao like chicken and duck meat, and especially chicken or duck's heart. The viscera are usually kept for the guests and elder people to show respect.

Wine

Wine has a long history among the Miao. Almost all Miao families can manufacture wine at home.

The sticky rice and a special fruit can be used to make a sweet wine which tastes delicious and helps digestion. If you go to a Miao village, the hospitable local people may welcome you with a whole wine service. It will be placed in twelve different places from the road to their village gate. You will be a great man if you can drink up all 12 bowls of wine! Don't worry if you can't. Softly touch the bowl with your lips, and say politely " Dou She Mo," which is " Thank you" in the Miao language!”then you will have no problem to pass.

Visit the Miao villages during their holidays, and you can enjoy their exciting singing and dancing performances, along with their fascinating embroidery and silver ornaments like the unique silver earrings. And sure, lots of wine is served too!