Ethnic Minority on the Way to Tibet – The Bai Nationality Diet

We kindly recommend the diet habit of the Bai Nationality for your reference. If is helpful for you to understand this ethnic minority during Tibet tour. They are of course similar with Han people in some ways, but they also indeed proud of their unique culture and history, too.

Ethnic Minority on the Way to Tibet – The Bai Nationality Diet

The diet habit is different in Dali region. People who lived in the plain area usually eat the rice and the wheat, but people who lived in the mountain land area, they usually eat the corns and buckwheat. The vegetables include the Chinese cabbages, green vegetables, carrots, eggplants, melons, beans and hot pepper, etc.

Peltry

It is a local special dish in Dali region. An entire pig or sheep will be baked on the fire. Scrape the pig hair when it is half-baked. And then bake it again till the skin turns to golden color. Cut the meet into the shredded meat or sliced meat, and then eat it with the delicious condiments such as the ginger, onions, garlic, stewed plum, and chili, etc. It is a national delicious dish used to welcome the guests of Bai people.

Hot and sour fish

Hot and sour fish is also called the "fish cooked by the sea water". Bai people usually don't fry the fish. When the sea water is boiled, they put the fish with the hot pepper and paprika powder into the pot. It tastes hot but very delicious.

Stewed plum

Dali Region produced the plum. There are full of plum forests everywhere in Erhai Area. The plum has two flavors, the bitter plum and the salt plum. Bai people usually stew the bitter plum as a perfect condiment. They will put the bitter plum into a sand jar with some salt and hot pepper. Afterwards, the sand jar will be roasted on the rice hulls for 1 – 2 days. The stewed plum tastes sour but very spicy. It usually used as the condiment for the Peltry. Additionally, it is easily preserved. It could be kept for 1 – 2 years.

Caving plum

Almost every girl of the Bai Nationality is good at carving the decorative pattern on the plum. The salt plum will be soaked by the lime water firstly. After dried, people will carve many different but beautiful patterns on the plum with a knife. And then squeeze the nutshell out. Next flatten it and soak it into the wine. Afterwards soak it into the brown sugar. After few months, it turns golden color and tastes very delicious.

Why every girl is good at making the caving plum? It is a standard to judge whether the girl is ingenuity or not. Before got married, the girl needs to present the carving plum to husband's mother. In the ceremony, different nuts and carving plums will be showed to the guests.

Three-course tea

It is a traditional way to drink the tea of Bai people. It is usually used to entertain the guests.