Food of Achang Ethnic Minority

The Achang people have three meals a day and like sour food. In the past the young men and women had the habit of chewing tobaccos and betel nuts, as a result their teeth were always dyed into black colours , that is why they had the old belief that ‘ Black Teeth Means Beautiful ‘.

The main food of the Achang people is rice. And they also like to take food like rice filum made from small pieces of rice as well as rice noodles . The rice filum is very convenient to eat. You just have to put it into boiled water for a few minutes and then take it out and mix it with some spices before you eat it. If you mix it with pork and chicken, you can make different flavors.. Rice noddles can also be cooked in boiled water, however cold rice noodles can also be eaten. The Achang people also like to put a spoon of hot soya flour into the rice noodles together with hot pepper, mixture of garlic , ginger, monosodium glutamate and so on, making a wonderful snack of soya rice noddles at last, which tastes hot,spicy and soft and is a snack often eaten by the Achang people in summer.The Achang people like to eat taros and the legend goes that in ancient times whenever there was good harvest, the Achang people would absolutely eat taros as well as kill dogs . Most of the Achang women can make soybeans , bean powders, and they often make cold noodles with peas.The meats they eat are mainly from he pigs and cattles they raise. They like to make boiled pork rice noodles using pork , that is to kill the pigs and burn them with wheat straws or rice straws, until the skin of the pig becomes yellow, then clean it , cut it into small pieces and mix it with vinegar, garlic, pepper and so on and at last eat it with rice noodles. Raising fish in the rice fields is the main source they get fish. When cooking fish they usually fry the fresh fish in hot edible oil and then take it out and steam it with water and sour peppers before finishing the cooking process. The most characteristic dish of fish is called sour and hot after–harvest fish, as they put the fish fries into the rice field when planting the rice, and get the fish out after harvest. Salted preserved vegetables ,beancurds , and soy sauce are made and eaten all through the year, as they are requisite at every meal in the Achang family.  The wine is a very popular beverage all through the year and the Achang women always make sweet wines from sticky rice, which has very intense bouquet and sweet taste. Adults and old people usually drink white spirits. Nowadays most of the Achang people can make white spirits through distillation and then preserve it in a big earthen jar for the use of it in festivals as well as treat the guests.

The typical Achang food includes cold celery powders, cold meat, pickles and “Hand Making Rice Noodles”.  

Sticky rice cake and rice noodles are two kinds of characteristic food of the Achang people. When making the sticky rice, they first wash the rice and then put it in clean water for about half a day , after that put the rice into a rice pot and steam it before eatting it. Sticky rice cakes are very soft and tender with good mouthfeel . You can also put the cakes on a leave of a banana tree and eat it as it becomes cooler and cooler , while you can also fry it or bake it, steam it or burn it, it is always fragrant, crisp and delicious , and you will never get bored of eating it frequently.  Hand Making Rice Noodles is a popular kind of food among the Achang people living in Husa region of Longchuan County. Make the noodles from local high quality rice and then make condiments from the mixture of ‘ fire burned pork ‘, pig liver, pig brains, pig intestines, peanuts, sesame, garlic, pepper, coriander, salt, monosodium glutamate , soy powders and vinegar. When eating, put the noodles in your hands , serve with condiments , then send the noddles into your mouth . This kind of rice noodles are delicious in taste, rich in nutrition, easily to be absorbed by your body , and at last provide a good memory forever.

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