When we eat zongzi or other leaf-wrapped food, we can clearly appreciate that this tradition existed since ancient times, says researcher
3-MIN READ3-MINKevin McSpaddenPublished: 10:45am, 24 Sep 2026When the weather turns warm around June, people all across China gather for the annual Dragon Boat Festival, and one of the most famous dishes from the celebration is the zongzi.
Zongzi is a rice dumpling with a delicious filling, wrapped in bamboo leaves before being cooked. The leaves add aroma and flavour to the rice.
In mid-August, a group of scientists from China announced they had discovered an ancient ancestor of zongzi made around 2,200 years ago.
However, Yong Ge, a study author from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it would be a stretch to “directly recognise” the food as zongzi, adding that the comparison is fair but “should not be overinterpreted.”
