The Dongxiang ethnic minority, mainly living in Gansu Province in northwest China, was a merger of several different ethnic groups living in the Dongxiang area in the latter half of the 14^th century. Most Dongxiangs are Huis and Mongolians that believe in Islam.

The daily food of the Dongxiangs includes wheat, highland buckwheat, maize, beans, paddy, buckwheat, til and Dongxiang potato. Dongxiang potato is sweet and big, containing little water but much starch. The Dongxiangs often use potatoes to make snacks, vinegar, starch noodles, and other favorite foods.

Their non-staple foods include tender and appetizing Zhanyang (a kind of sheep meat), beef, chicken, eggs, vegetables and fruits. They have three meals a day. One of the noted features of their food is that rice and dishes are mixed, and multiple ingredients are cooked together.

As for daily meals, the Dongxiangs have a special liking for potatoes, and cannot take a meal without potato. Sometimes they bake potatoes in the ashes of Kang (a heated bed used in north China), sometimes toast them over the fire; sometimes fry potato shreds with mutton, sometimes mix highland barley flour, pickle, and mashed garlic with mashed potato. They are never tired of eating potatoes.

For all the three meals a day, the Dongxiangs sit around a table on the Kang, with their legs crossed. They will serve the elders first when eating meat and drinking. Women usually have meals elsewhere. When guests visit, they seat the guests at the primary seats (against the wall) on the Kang.

The Dongxiangs have a special tradition of entertaining guests. The host serves the male guests, and he usually adds tea and rice at the edge of the Kang (a special heated bed in northern China), but does neither sit nor eat. And women usually avoid presence at the site. The hostess serves female guests, and she may sit and dine with the guests together.

When entertaining guests, the Dongxiangs usually stand along and urge the guests to eat and drink. They have a special custom of serving chicken, especially chicken coccyx. A stewed cock or hen is cut into 13 pieces. The big pieces should be served to the elders, while the small ones to the young. Chicken coccyx is taken as the most precious, and usually served to the guest.

 Tea

The Dongxiangs are fond of green tea.

Dietetic taboos of the Dongxiangs are primarily the same as other ethnic groups that believe in Islam, but they attach more importance to rituals. For example, when guests visit, the host should lead all family members to welcome them outside the door; tea or food should be served with both hands; elders must be seated at the primary positions on the Kang, and the juniors must not eat before the elders take the first move; wives must bow in and out the door to serve dishes; the juniors must not smoke or drink before their own parents or elders.

 Special Foods

Maishuo is a kind of food with special Dongxiang flavor. It is prepared by steaming unripe highland barley or barley, grinding it into columns of the size of chopstick ends, and mixing it with garlic and chili powder. It is precious with unique local flavor, and is used to entertain guests.

Luobo porridge is delicious meat porridge, similar to the meat-butter rice of Huis. It is prepared by putting wheat, highland barley, horse bean, haricot bean, maize and meat shred into broth and boiling it into delicious thick soup. If butter is added, it becomes a prime delicacy of the Dongxiangs.