Nanning Zongzi (Glutinous Rice Dumplings)

Made from glutinous rice filled with fatty pork, mung beans, chestnuts and salted egg yolk, Nanning zongzi are far larger than their northern counterparts; wrapped in fresh lotus and bamboo leaves and steamed for many hours, they emerge richly fragrant, yielding and unctuous.

Zongzi have a long history in Guangxi; Nanning's version draws on Zhuang food culture blended with Cantonese dim sum influence, resulting in a uniquely large, hearty, meat-and-bean style that is the most important festive food for both Dragon Boat Festival and Spring Festival.

Sliced open hot, the glutinous rice envelops a generous filling perfumed with lotus leaf—a single large zongzi makes a satisfying meal. Around Dragon Boat Festival, families across Nanning steam zongzi simultaneously, filling the city with their fragrance.

Distinguished by its generous size, the pork-and-mung-bean combination and the clean lotus-leaf perfume, Nanning zongzi is the most representative traditional festive food of Guangxi.