The Manchu ethnic minority mainly lives in the three northeastern provinces ofChinaandBeijingCity.
Manchu people are good at baking and roasting food, and often use raw sauce. The vegetables they eat vary with seasons, and are supplemented by wild herbs such as crown daisy and as well as mushrooms. They are fond of pork and often boil it with pure water. They often serve the whole roasted sheep at grand feasts.
In the past, Manchu lived on maize, broomcorn millet, millet and buckwheat as their staple food, and now they shift to wheat and rice. Manchu people have three meals a day. They usually cook rice or porridge for breakfast and supper. While they eat cakes, pancakes, steamed bread, buns, and dumplings for lunch. They often use millet, broomcorn millet or maize to make cooked rice.
Manchus in most areas ofNortheast Chinahave the habit of eating watered rice, i.e., wash cooked broomcorn millet or maize rice with pure water once and then soak them into clean water, take it out at dinner time, and serve it in bowls. Watered rice is cool and delicious, and the serving way is often used in the summer.
Manchus are fond of sticky food. Buns are necessary offerings in memorial ceremonies.
It is extremely cold and lacks fresh vegetables in northernChinain the winter. Manchus cannot live without pickles. In each autumn, they will store hundreds of, even thousands ofJin(1Jin= 500g) of Chinese cabbages. Apart from storing them in cellars, Manchus preserve the cabbages into pickles for future use.
Manchus often raise pigs. They kill pigs before the Spring Festival, preserve part of the pork in jars for the coming year, and use the rest to improve diet and entertain guests. Wine is the most favorite drink among all for Manchus.
The homeland of Manchus is rich in precious medical materials, among which the famous ginseng wine and ginseng-antler wine sell well in the world. Manchus are also fond of leavened bean milk, soybean milk, milk tea, sour tea, honey water, haw slice water, burned rice water and other drinks.
The Manchu ethnic minority has complex rites and rituals in dining and cooking. For example, cakes and meat offered to gods or ancestors may be shared by passers-by, but usually cannot be taken away, and the passers-by are not allowed to wipe their mouths after eating the food there; at family dinners, the younger generations must not begin eating before the elders do; when killing pigs for the Spring Festival, they are used to inviting relatives, friends and neighbors to share white meat and blood intestines.
Manchus are forbidden to kill dogs, eat dog meat, use dog skin or wear dog skin hats. Due to the long history of hunting, dogs have become indispensable assistants of the Manchu people. They use dogs to pull sledges in the winter. Dogs have become an important tool. Therefore, they have the tradition of respecting dogs.
Special Food:Saqima
Saqima(a kind of candied fritter) is a favorite snack of Manchu, which is made by kneading flour and eggs into noodles, frying with oil, mixing with syrup, putting into the square mould, and cutting into small pieces. It tastes sweet, crisp and delicious, and yet not greasy.
The final step for makingSaqimais cutting it into squares and stacking them. In Manchu language, the word for cutting begins withsaqi-, and the word for stacking begins withma-.Saqimais the abbreviation of the two words.
Since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) established its capital inBeijing, lots of Manchu people went into the Central Plains and settled down inBeijing. The way of makingSaqimabecame widespread and was later accepted by both Manchus and Hans inBeijing.
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