Despite a recent rise in grocery prices, retail chains and traditional markets are reporting positive sales of glutinous rice, pork, mushrooms and other ingredients that make up zongzi (粽子), a traditional food to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.
Many households in the country celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival yesterday with steamed zongzi, or glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. It is a traditional Chinese food stuffed with various fillings such as eggs, pork, chestnuts and mushrooms.
Well-known, traditional zongzi shops such as those in the Nanmen Market in Taipei City yesterday attracted throngs of customers, who lined up for famous flavors such as the Huzhou zongzi, which is known for its extra sticky rice and elongated shape.
Many shop owners said that despite price hikes of as much as NT$5 for each zongzi, sales increased by about 20 to 30 percent compared with last year’s Dragon Boat Festival. One owner even reported sales of zongzi reaching six-digit figures during the holiday season.
Retail prices for vegetables and meat have also generally risen to about 10 percent higher than the same period last year due to torrential rains in recent weeks. Farm prices for green beans, cucumber, loofah and various types of fruits have also risen by more than 10 percent.
In an effort to attract customers, retail chains such as FE-amart, Carrefour and RT-Mart also offered various types of ready-made zongzi, in addition to glutinous rice, fatty pork, peanuts and other ingredients for those who make their own zongzi at home.
Although eating zongzi is a great way for families to celebrate the festival, nutritionists say that over-consumption of zongzi could cause people to consume more calories than recommended, because each zongzi can contain up to 600 calories.
Hsu Hui-yu (許惠玉), director of John Tung Foundation’s Food and Nutrition Division, said that to burn off 100 calories, a person would have to climb 55 flights of stairs.
In other words, “to work off the 600 calories that are contained in a typical zongzi, a person would have to climb Taipei 101 three times,” she said.
Because the glutinous rice takes longer to digest than regular steamed rice, those who have digestive problems are also advised to refrain from eating too many zongzi, she said.
In related news, the Fair Trade Commission has in the last two weeks been monitoring prices of popular zongzi ingredients to track down unscrupulous businesses that conduct unfair trade practices such as price fixing.
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