Bao & Dumplings

Baozi, jiaozi, huntun—these are just a few of China’s buns and stuffed things. The category is not precise, since many items are generically translated as “dumplings” in English, although they are culturally and culinarily distinct foods in Chinese. Thus, 粽子 (zòngzi) with its 2,000-year history and folk origins become “rice dumplings,” and 汤圆 (tāngyuán) with its 1,000-year history and symbolic Winter Solstice and Spring Festival importance are “sweet dumplings.” Regardless, there is no denying the delicious, hundred-odd ways of shaping, filling, steaming and boiling wheat- and rice-flour doughs for the pleasures of eating together.