Have you heard that the bamboo can also make food for people, not just for the pandas? Within the famous Longji Terraced Field scenic area, you will have the chance to try a featured dish - Rice Cooked in Bamboo Tubes.
The local people of Zhuang minority make rice as their staple food, and cook it in a very special way. The bamboos are cut into sections of around 35 cm, with both ends closed. Then, stream-soaked glutinous rice, together with wind-dry meat, beans and some other ingredients are put into the bamboo tube via a small drilled hole of one end. The hole is sealed with sweet potatoes, and then the bamboo tube is placed in slow fire to cook.
Bamboo tubes would be turned over from time to time to be evenly heated. It takes over 30 minutes for the rice to absorb the bamboo fragrance and ingredients. When served, the bamboo tube would be split in half. Rice has a great subtle flavor enhanced, as it has been steamed inside the bamboo.
Originally, this kind of food was made by the ethnic groups who live in mountainous regions. They often go hunting and farming in dense forests. It is inconvenient for them to cook when they go out; and Rice Cooked in Bamboo Tubes is thus made to solve this problem.
