The Dong ethnic group is mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi provinces, with a large part of its population engaged in agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing. The Dongs are good at craftwork, especially skilled at weaving brocade.

Dong culinary practices, which have a unique system, are a remarkable part of the culture. With large varieties and many oddities, food is all about three words - mixed, sour, and joy.

  Oddity 1: Mixed Food Sources

Most of the Dong people have four meals a day, including two tea breaks. Cooked rice is their main staple, and people living in mountainous areas usually enjoy "sticky" rice. Their various snacks are also rice-based, such as porridge, zongzi (pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves), are called ciba (glutinous rice cake). The Dongs do not use chopsticks. Instead, they knead the rice into round balls with their hands. This they describe as "eating tuanfan (rice balls)."

Usually, the Dongs prepare a day's food in the morning and then bring it along to where they work, mainly mountainous areas. The tea they drink, named oil tea, is in fact a kind of soup made by boiling a mixture of tea leaves, peanuts, glutinous rice, meat, oil, and so on. To go with rice and tea, there are various kinds of vegetables (usually pickled), fruits and drinks.

It is estimated that the Dongs have at least 500 kinds of culinary materials, a revelation of their intelligence and strong adaptability.

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