What does zongzi mean?

Zongzi is a kind of food steamed with glutinous rice wrapped in Zongzi leaves, and it is one of the traditional festival foods of the Chinese nation. At first, the meaning of Zongzi was used to worship ancestors and gods, because the ancients thought that May 5th was an evil month and day, and sacrifices must be held on May 5th every year to eliminate the plague, exorcise evil spirits and seek good luck.

As time goes by and changes, people eat zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is a manifestation of inheriting the tradition. There are many kinds of zongzi in different areas, but the meaning of eating zongzi is the same.

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Taboos for eating zongzi:

The main component of zongzi is glutinous rice with high amylopectin content. After heating glutinous rice, amylopectin will gelatinize, which is beneficial to be decomposed by digestive enzymes and easier to digest; Once cooled, starch will age and grow again, and the cohesion between molecules will be strengthened, so it is not easy to be digested. In terms of taste, the hardness, viscosity and chewiness of glutinous rice will increase obviously after cooling, which will bring difficulties to digestion. Therefore, cold zongzi is very unfavorable to digestion.

In addition, jiaozi also contains a lot of saturated fat. For people with bad stomach and poor digestion and absorption ability, a large amount of meat fat will bring a burden to the digestive system.

If eaten hot, glutinous rice is soft, meat oil is liquid, and it is easy to mix with bile, so it is not difficult for healthy people with normal gastrointestinal function to digest it. Once it gets cold, lard solidifies, and the hardness of glutinous rice inhaled with lard also increases, which increases the burden on the stomach.

People's Daily Online-Dietary Taboo: Zongzi must be eaten while it is hot.