Pingbian Zhuang Multicolored Rice 屏边壮族花米饭

Pingbian Zhuang Multicolored Rice (屏边壮族花米饭) is glutinous rice dyed in several colours with plant extracts, a traditional food of the Zhuang (壮族) people of Pingbian Miao Autonomous County (屏边苗族自治县) in Honghe (红河) prefecture, Yunnan. It is the centre of the Zhuang Flower Rice Festival (花米饭节), which the Pingbian county government calls the most important festival of the Zhuang there.

How it is made

The Honghe prefecture government describes the base as good glutinous rice from the previous year's harvest. Colours are drawn from the roots, stems, flowers and leaves of wild plants, giving red, yellow, blue-green, purple and black, and the rice is soaked in these dyes. For the festival, the Pingbian county government says, women mix the colours from plants gathered in the hills, among them small indigo leaves (小靛叶), dye the rice in seven colours including red, yellow and green, and then steam it.

How it is eaten

The rice can be eaten steamed, or dried in the air and then fried in oil, which makes it fragrant and crisp. On festival day, households invite visitors in to taste it, and the host gives a departing guest a ball of the rice wrapped in a banana leaf to take home.

Where it comes from

The Flower Rice Festival falls on the first day of the horse in the sixth lunar month. Early that morning men set out incense tables in front of their homes with chicken and wine, and the finished rice is offered to Yang Liulang and Yang Qilang (杨六郎、杨七郎) with prayers for thriving livestock and a safe, happy household. In 2018 the county reported the festival held on 7 August at the gate of Baifu village (百富寨) in Tuanjie (团结), Baihe town (白河镇), where the rice was laid out along the street with other Zhuang foods and stage performances showed the origins of the festival and how the rice is made.