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A delicate taste of dumplings. 5/29/2006

It is tradition in the chinese community, that in the 5th lunar month, the dumpling festival is celebrated. Dumplings are typically made by those in the coastal and riverine communities, but in this country, everyone gets into the act.

The legend behind it is that a poet in old China named Qu Yuan, of the Chu kingdom, was framed by other court officials in a fit of professional jealousy. This goes to show you that back stabbing in the office is a time honoured practice. Anyway, after being slandered, Qu Yuan was banished from the court, and he went off, possibly going on the talk show circuit, and perhaps writing a best seller. After a few years, the Chu kingdom started to decline, because they no longer had good poetry to listen to.

When Qu Yuan heard of this, he became depressed, Prozac being unknown in those days. And since castration was practised in the Imperial Court for all court officials, Qu Yuan couldn’t even count on a blow job to lift his spirits. Qu Yuan decided that this was the end, and jumped into a river to end it all. The fishermen living along the river heard this, and went looking for his body. All those gold rings and jewelry would fetch a good price in the local pawn shop.

Despite trawling the river, they couldn’t find the body, in spite of many hours of doing so. In a fit of pique, one of the fishermen saw the lunch his wife had packed for him, which was glutinous rice wrapped in leaves. He opened it up, thinking that he might as well have a bite. As he bit into it, he realised his mistake, because he married his wife for another reason, not because she was a good cook. As to what that reason was, let’s just say pre-marital sex is not a modern invention.

So the fisherman threw the dumpling into the river. The other fishermen saw this, and thought, “Hey!, Let’s start a new tradition! And we can use it for merchandising and making people buy seasonal food stuff at inflated prices.

So last night, I got a delivery of dumplings. Home made. With a stuffing of yellow beans, pork, mushrooms, and scallops. It tasted great. And will send my diet into orbit .

Comments»

1. KY - 5/29/2006

I never knew we call this dumplings too, i always refer to them as bak chang

2. thesnark - 5/29/2006

KY : That’s the english translation. I call them bak chang as well.

3. KY - 5/29/2006

btw, dude, time to update my link? you’re still referring to my very old blogspot address. =)

4. Dabido(Teflon) - 5/29/2006

I love the way you told the story! :-)

5. YP - 5/29/2006

Looking at the number of dumplings (or changs) at home… I think I’ll be having them for the next few days. Indigestion, here I come!!!

6. kimberlycun - 5/30/2006

omg tupperware sure can soften the hard edges a bit lol

7. thesnark - 5/30/2006

KY : I’ll update the link when it works under Nutscrape.

8. Gaijin Biker - 5/31/2006

Watch out for the poisonous dumplings.

9. hurricanemax - 6/1/2006

i just had one of the BEST bak-chang this morning for breakfast, in Hatyai. The stock came form Trang, a hokkien town 170km norhtwest of hatyai…Rich in fillings and only half a fist size..unlike those in KL pasar malam..humongous mother of a bak-chang.

Those bikers riding to phuket at this time shd try the Trang Bak Chang out. Its worth the 30min stop.