Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings)
Photo: Dllu · CC BY-SA 4.0

Zongzi are glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and simmered for hours, eaten across China at the Dragon Boat Festival, with Shanghai favouring pork, salted egg yolk and sweet red bean fillings.

Zongzi were once known as jiaoshu for their angular, leaf wrapped shape and originally used millet rather than rice. By the Jin dynasty, eating leaf wrapped dumplings around the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, near the summer solstice, was already an established custom, later tied to the story of the poet Qu Yuan and offerings thrown into the Miluo River after his death. During the Ming and Qing dynasties the dumplings also picked up a good luck meaning around examinations, since brush shaped zongzi sounded like the phrase for certain success. Shanghai's old pastry brands now sell both savoury pork versions and sweet red bean and jujube fillings each year around the festival.

1 editor pick for Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) in Shanghai, ranked by editorial score. All Shanghai signature dishes · Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) across every city.

Shen Da Cheng ★ 4.2

¥BakeryPeoples Square

Shen Da Cheng on East Nanjing Road in Shanghai has sold glutinous rice pastries, dim sum and spring qingtuan since 1875, with a queue at its street counter.

TipIn spring pick red bean paste for the classic qingtuan, or salted egg yolk with pork floss for the savoury one.

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