Chinese zongzi a hot commodity
- Source: Global Times
- [10:53 June 17 2010]
- Comments
By Ni Dandan
A Chinese staff member of the Joint Africa Pavilion shows an African colleague how to make a zongzi Wednesday in celebration of the traditional Dragon Boat Festival. Photo: IC
As China celebrated Dragon Boat Festival Wednesday, visitors inside the Expo Park from home and abroad showed their favor for zongzi, a special food prepared for the traditional occasion.
"Shanghai people tend to use more soy sauce when making zongzi and that makes it different from what we have in my hometown," Zhong Wei, visitor from Hebei Province, told the Global Times Wednesday, adding that he planned to bring some home for his father.
Marie Davis from France, who went to the park with her family Wednesday, said that she was familiar with zongzi, which is made of glutinous rice and filled with different stuffing, wrapped in bamboo leaves.
"I tasted it when I came to the country five years ago," said Davis. "Chinese food is colorful, and our family loves it."
Inside the park at Wufangzhai, one of the most reputed zongzi-makers in the city, where zongzi sell for up to 8 yuan ($1.20) depending on the stuffing, sales were booming, up 50 percent this week thanks to the festive sesason.
"We began selling zongzi since the opening of the park," an employee surnamed Gong told the Global Times Wednesday. "Every day, we sell around 2,000 zongzi, but this week, we have sold 3,000 already."
Meanwhile, the Singapore Pavilion took the opportunity to promote its culture for the occasion, offering some visitors a taste of its own version of zongzi.
"We only use lean quality meat instead of streaky pork, and we add wax gourd into the stuffing, making our zongzi taste a bit sweet," said Yang Shisong, head chef of the restaurant at the Singapore Pavilion.
But due to a limited supply of raw materials air transported from Singapore to Shanghai, only 500 of the zongzi were on offer Wednesday in the park, which were sold out by morning.
