The Flavor of the Qiang people

The homegrown corn, wheat, buckwheat, beans and peas, potatoes and vegetables as well as the flour transported from western Sichuan Plain serve as the staple food of the Qiang people. They have three meals a day with staple food such as steamed rice, fried steamed bread, fried steamed bread slice, flour block, hominy, potato glutinous rice cake and distinctive food such as rice wine and red steamed bread. Most people smoke the homegrown Orchid Cigarette. The Qiang people prefer to mill the corn into fine particles and make steamed corn rice, which is also referred to as Mianzhengzheng, or add in some vegetables to make hominy, which is called corn soup. 

The way the Qiang people cook is easy and simple. They often add vegetables in the hominy to make the so called “Mailazi”, or steam the half-cooked rice with corn flour. When corn flour is in the majority, they call it “silver in gold”, otherwise “gold in silver”. Fried noodle made of highland barley or wheat is for grazing or taking out.

The Qiang people dislike eating fresh pork. When killing pigs, they prefer to cut pork into small pieces hide and hair and hang them on the beams of roof for smoke drying to make preserved pork pieces. The longer preserved and the more yellow the color is, the more delicious is the preserved pork is. Those having been preserved for years look bright yellow and translucent in color, and taste oily but not greasy. Besides, they can also be used as the flavoring for daily fried dishes as well as a wonderful gift for guests.