00:00A peanut and cilantro combo, or a creamy bubble milk tea filling, these are not your grandma's zongzi.
00:08Zongzi are traditional glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves.
00:12And while the fillings and flavors continue to evolve, the Dragon Boat Festival's spirit hasn't changed.
00:20In the fifth lunar month of the year, in this Xinzhu Hakka town, people gather to make a unique type
00:26of zongzi,
00:27which typically requires pan frying the rice with soy sauce before wrapping, and is steaming the rice bundles with various
00:34fillings.
00:35Here, dried radish is a signature ingredient.
00:52From planting the radishes to picking the bamboo leaf wrappers,
00:55every step of making zongzi requires months of preparation.
00:59And when it's time to wrap the dumplings, family and friends come together to prep the feast.
01:04They're trying to relax.
01:07They're trying to break the ground.
01:11They're trying to break the ground.
01:12They're trying to break the ground, so we're doing it every week.
01:16They're not too long.
01:17Even though they're making zongzi,
01:25the different kinds of zongzi,
01:26the different kinds of zongzi,
01:26they're creeping up in there.
01:27When it's time to get your hound,
01:36In traditional markets, sellers hang up bunches of zongzi.
01:40Some recall the old days when large families would make the dumplings together.
02:00As many zongzi will be consumed this holiday weekend, people are being reminded to carefully sort their leftover waste.
02:07There are now fines of up to 180 U.S. dollars for anyone who throws away used bamboo leaves as
02:15compost rather than as trash.
02:17But no matter sweet or savory, store-bought or homemade, people are seeking new and old ways to keep the
02:23holiday spirit alive.
02:25Ryan Wu, Irene Lin and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.
Comments