Bak Chang!

Today is a memorable day for some Chinese. It is called Duan Wu Jie in Mandarin where people eat meat dumpling or "Bak Chang" during this festive day. The dumpling eating tradition is believed to carry out in remembrance of the an ancient Chinese patriot, Qu Yuan. He was a very loyal minister to the emperor. His royalty to the emperor however had raise jealousy and hatred among a few minister. They plotted against him by telling the emperor that he is going to rebel against his highness. The idiotic emperor believed those wicked ministers and wanted to kill Qu Yuan. Unable to prove that he is innocent he jumped off the river with a big rock hanging by his neck. It is the most foolish thing to do and the ancient Chinese like it very much.. ~strange beliefs~

So the people who like him made rice with meat inside and wrapped it with leave, which is known as "Zhong Zhi" in mandarin. Then the row their boat to the middle of the river and threw all of it into the river. The reason is to somehow telling the fish not to eat Qu Yuan's body. Another idiotic action, in this action we can know that the ancient Chinese were eating fish in thousands and thousands of cuisines but they could not rare the fishes.

So the tradition of making "Bak Zhang" was inherited to the Chinese communities. The only different is knowing that we can buy bread crumbs or fish food, we no longer throw "Bak Zhang" into the river. We eat it instead. The reason? "Bak Zhang is not cheap ok? One Bak Zhang now cost about RM2.20 and some even cost RM3.00 during festive seasons!"

I ate a dumpling as breakfast since yesterday morning. Research showed that the rice in dumpling can cause indigestion while the meat has high cholesterol.Among other famous Chinese cuisine I think "Bak Zhang" is one of the worst food in nutrition. However when we talk about taste, it is very delicious indeed! The pandan leave scent and the aroma from the meat and rice! It makes you keep eating and eating. There is only one disadvantage, ever wonder why the rice is so hard and difficult to eat? The worst part is that no matter how the dumpling changes their style and taste, the stiff rice is still maintained? I think it is what makes dumpling so special. They wanted to preserve it so we can remember Qu Yuan whenever we eat the dumpling. While chewing the stiff rice with an effort, I found out that, dumpling was meant to be fish food after all. Now the ancient Chinese were so rich that they can dump dumpling into the river which we couldn't afford. Their fish food is neither Hagen nor Hikari but dumpling! In the end, I wish you all
Happy chewing!