Pickled sour bamboo shoots

Pickled sour bamboo shoots

　　The Va people love spicy food. A dish is considered incomplete without chili peppers. Pickled sour bamboo shoots and stinky fermented black bean cakes are also among their favorites. During summer and autumn each year, nearly every household pickles several jars of sour bamboo shoots. The shoots are sliced thinly or cut into strips and packed tightly into jars for sealed storage.

Sour bamboo shoots are eaten all year round, especially as an essential ingredient when cooking fish or crabs. In the diet of the Va people, rice wine, chicken rice porridge, dipping sauce porridge, mung bean greens, and small yellow leaf soup are among the most distinctive traditional dishes.