Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, when every household will enjoy zongzi. But be mindful: certain foods should never be eaten with zongzi. Consuming the wrong foods during the festival could ruin your celebration. Here’s what to avoid pairing with zongzi.
1. Foods to avoid with zongzi
Just don't eat too many zongzi. There's no specific food you can't eat with them—the key is moderation. Zongzi are high-calorie foods, and eating them in moderation is good for your health. Malted barley water and white radish are great companions for zongzi. Glutinous rice is hard to digest and can cause blood sugar to spike quickly, making many people hesitant to eat it or suffer after eating it. Is there a way to change these properties of glutinous rice?Xue Yuzhu, Director of the Nutrition Clinic at Zhengzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, recommends pairing glutinous rice with foods that aid digestion, slow absorption, and control blood sugar spikes.For digestion, malt water and daikon radish (or daikon radish water) are top choices. These foods aid digestion and break down food stagnation, making them ideal companions for zongzi. Additionally, for those with weaker digestive systems like the elderly and children—who may experience constipation after eating zongzi—pairing them with foods like animal blood, black fungus, bananas, onions, potatoes, or spinach is recommended. These foods promote bowel movements.
Furthermore, the key lies in the ingredients of your zongzi. Glutinous rice alone has no known dietary restrictions, but as a starchy grain, excessive consumption can still cause blood sugar spikes—so moderation is essential.Moreover, glutinous rice contains branched-chain starch, which is difficult to digest. For a typical zongzi about the size of a woman's fist, it's advisable not to consume more than two per day to avoid gastrointestinal discomfort such as bloating, constipation, indigestion, or even acute gastroenteritis.
Regarding these food pairing concerns, some say certain combinations are problematic, yet people have been eating them this way for years without issue.
Regardless, here are some suggestions. Some add ingredients like chicken or pork, so I'll share what I know—primarily concerning fillings.
1. Red beans: Avoid cooking with rice, as it may cause mouth ulcers; avoid pairing with lamb; refrain from eating for 100 days after a snake bite; not suitable for those with frequent urination.
2. Peanuts: Avoid with bracken, hairy crabs, or cucumbers.
3. Pork: Avoid with quail, as it darkens the complexion; avoid with pigeon meat, crucian carp, or shrimp, as it causes stagnant qi; avoid with buckwheat, as it causes hair loss;Avoid with water chestnuts, soybeans, bracken, platycodon root, black plum, lily bulb, croton seed, rhubarb, coptis, or atractylodes. Avoid with beef, donkey meat, or lamb liver. 4. Rice (Japonica): Do not consume with horse meat or cocklebur, as it causes heart pain.
5. Mung beans: Avoid consumption with dog meat or Chinese pistachio nuts.Avoid mustard and chrysanthemum.
7 Sugar: Avoid pairing with shrimp; never boil with bamboo shoots; unsuitable with milk or copper-containing foods.
8 Millet: Do not consume with apricots, as this combination may cause vomiting and diarrhea; contraindicated for those with qi stagnation.
That concludes our guide on what not to eat with zongzi. We hope this information has been helpful. Wishing you good health and happiness.