Ethnic Food
The staple food is mainly rice. Residents in the mountainous areas also have maize as their complementary or staple food.
The local people like to use a special utensil called “Zengzi” to steam the rice. Miao and Buyi people are fond of glutinous rice, which is an indispensable part in their festivals and feasts and served as a quality appetizing staple.
Cold vegetables, “frozen meat with lichen” and “cold jelly with peas” are the Buyi people’s favorite food.
Pickled cabbages and sour soup are prepared almost every meal and women in particular are fond of them.
Besides, there are blood beancurds, sausage, and other flavored dishes made of dry and fresh bamboo roots and various insects. Most of the Buyi people are good at making pickles, seasoned ham, and lobster sauce. The special pickles called “salted pickles” (Yansuan) are famous both at home and abroad.
Among the meat dishes, dog meat, dog sausage, and beef soup are the top ones.
When slaughtering pigs, the local people usually stir the pig blood with some salt. When the blood becomes solid, they boil the blood with mince, chopped onions, and seasonings. This is called the “live blood” and served as the best dish for treating guests.
Wine takes up an important position in the daily life of Buyi people. Every year after the autumn harvest, all households would make a large amount of rice wine so as to drink later. Buyi people like to treat their guests with wine. Whether their guests can drink or not, they would serve wine first, which is called “guest-greeting wine”. They use bowls instead of cups to contain wine and play finger-guessing games and drinkers’ wager games and sing songs while drinking.