• Genre: Material Lore – food, Customary Lore – celebration
• Language: English, Chinese
• Country of Origin: China/Canada
• Informant: A.Z.
• Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

• A.Z was born in China and spent half her life there before moving to Canada. As far as she knows, she is full Chinese. She has strong ties to her family as her mother and grandmother have passed down many recipes to her. She always spends Chinese New Year with family. Currently, she is a second year student at Dartmouth College studying computer science.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Rice is a staple food in China as it is an ingredient found in countless dishes. In its purest form, rice can just be steamed and used eaten as a side to other meats and vegetables, rice can be fried, rice can be used in congee or porridge. However, rice can also be used to make noodles and cakes. Because of its versatility, rice can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and can even be used in various desserts.
• Social Context: Chinese New Year is a widely celebrated festival by Chinese people around the world, and it typically includes a large meal with family and many other festivities.

Item:

• 8 treasure rice (八宝饭) is a Chinese New Year dish that dates back 2000 year ago to the Zhou Dynasty and it typically eaten as a dessert. The reason why it is called 8 treasure rice is because it contains 8 fruits that are considered very therapeutic in Chinese Medicine, including Red Dates, Red Bean, Plums, Winter-melons, Nuts, Longan, Lotus Seeds, etc. There are many variations of what ingredients are added depending on who makes it as some form include canned tangerines, winter melons, and more. These “treasures” are considered the toppings to the main component being glutinous rice.

Audio Clip:

Transcript:

C.C. (collector): So what is one particular Chinese New Year dish that you would eat and enjoy?

A.Z. (informant):  So one of my favorites is 八宝饭, which translates in English roughly to 8 treasures rice. This is a sweet dessert we usually have during Chinese New Year after our main courses as kind of a finishing plate. And the history behind it is that this dessert has over 2000 years of history dating back to the Zhou dynasty and the reason why its still so popular and has been popular throughout these 2000 years is that it is a very beautiful looking dessert rice dish that contains 8 treasures, that’s the name, 8 treasures rice. And each of these treasures or fruits and vegetables are believed to have medicinal and therapeutic properties according to Chinese medicine. So these fruits usually vary depending on the region of China, but basic and common fruits put into 八宝饭 include red dates, lotus seeds, plums, winter-melons, longan, red bean paste, nuts, and yeah these are the common ones we put.

C.C.: Ok that’s it. Thank you.

A.Z.: You’re welcome.

Informant’s Comments:

• She would typically eat this dessert at restaurants instead of preparing it at home, and each place she had that dish at, the 8 treasure rice would be made differently with some of the “treasures” varying.

Collector’s Comments:

• I have never tried this dish or heard of it before this interview, however, I am familiar with rice-based desserts. I think this dish would be similar to the rice desserts I tried in the past.

Collector’s Name: Chris Chao

Tags/Keywords:

• Chinese New Year
• Material Lore
• Customary Lore
• Food
• Dessert

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