Xiban from @食􀹶酷 on bilibili

Minha Identidade Étnica Hakka e a Culinária Bǎn (粄)

Através de um delicioso prato tradicional, me conecto a minha identidade étnica e história de migração, e percebo o quanto permaneceu igual depois de séculos.
China, Eastern Asia

Story by Zhihao Zhong. Translated by Sweet Bean
Published on March 1, 2022.

This story is also available in GB cn it kr



Adoro comer arroz simples. Eu não entendia o porque até que numa aula de biologia aprendi que era saboroso porque uma enzima da minha saliva convertia arroz em açúcar enquanto mastigava. Seja como for, suspeito que minha afinidade por arroz foi realmente derivado do meu Hakka favorito [1] arroz da culinária Bǎn (粄) [2]

A gastronomia e a língua são duas distinções culturais especiais do meu grupo étnico Hakka no sudeste da China. Em meio a várias propostas da comida Hakka, o ban, meu favorito,é originalmente um tipo de bolo de arroz cozido feito de farinha de arroz. A receita foi enriquecida de ingredientes tais como arroz glutinoso, trigo. Batatas as vezes com recheios como pasta de semente de lotus, gergelim e rabanete. [3]

Normalmente, quando vou para as outras cidades da China com algumas pessoas Hakka, as pessoas não sabem que ban é. Aparentemente, a palavra ban nem sequer está disponível no dicionário chinês moderno Han mas apenas no antigo.[4] Uma das explicações para isso é que a palavra Hakka e a pronunciação têm mais similaridades com o chinês antigo.[5] porque as pessoas preservaram a língua Hakka ao viverem uma vida aprisionada. Migrando do norte, alguns Hakkas viajavam para as regiões a Sul onde vivia o povo Cantonês. Os Hakkas não eram bem recebidos pelos Cantoneses e mais tarde foram forçados a viver nas áreas montanhosas para evitar serem atacados.  A interação com o mundo exterior foi assim reduzida. Portanto, a antiga palavra ‘Bǎn’ reflete a história Hakka da língua e migração.

 

As pessoas no norte da China muitas vezes usam farinha para cozinhar por causa da proximidade com o trigo. Diferentes tipos de baozi, que é similar a ban, mas feitos com farinha de trigo em vez de arroz, são feitos no norte. A semelhança entre ban e baozi apontam para a histórica migração do povo Hakka originalmente da área rica em trigo carregavam as sua memória e afinidade baozi, o qual tem sido traduzido em uma variadade ban.

Vindo do sul, eu continuo a gostar diferentes tipos de baozi, mas nunca vão substituir o ban. Baozi é feito em toda a China, mas ban continua sendo polpular apenas nas regiões Hakka. O que torna o ban mais especial é a tradição de comer diferentes ban em diferentes ocasiões. Por exemplo, meu favorito Xiban [6] é muitas vezes servido em casamentos e rituais para ancestrais e Budas. Embora eu coma Xiban casualmente, a imagem e sabor destes Xibans resssuscita minhas memórias das ocasiões especiais para as quais elas são feitas.

Para além das grandes tradições do povo Hakka em geral, minha família também criou nossas próprias tradições. Minha tia sempre tem ban rabanete [7] pronta na primavera. Sempre que como ban rabanete, primeiro penso nessa tia, assim como a cena dela trazendo uma reserva de ban rabanete para a mesa de jantar.

Quando eu fui viver nas profundas regiões Hakka rodeadas por montanhas, durante dois anos, aprendi ainda mais sobre ban. O povo de lá fala uma versão do Hakka diferente da minha e tem mais versões do ban do que do lugar de onde eu venho. Eu acredito que em parte é assim porque eu vivi muito perto da região dos Cantoneses [8] mas ban foi a melhor conexão entre a minha cultura Hakka e a deles então nos conectamos por meio da comida. A rica variedade de ban também acelerou meu orgulhoso de ser parte do grupo étnico Hakka e expandiu minhas memorias associadas a cada tipo de ban que comi.

A culinária ban ajuda a identificar Hakkas a medida que carrega noções da história, língua e cultura, eu decidi priorizar comer ban na minha lista de atividades para a próxima vez que visitar a casa.


[1] Rubinstein, Murray A. (2004), "Repensando a Identidade Tailandesa e Chinesa: Melissa J. Brown's é Tailandes Chinês?", iir.nccu.edu.tw, Instituto de Relações Internacionais, 40, pp. 454–458

[2] A notação em ‘Bǎn’ é uma ferramenta para ajudar a pronunciar corretamente o prato. Para facilitar a leitura , ‘ban’ será usado em todo artigo.

[3] Rao, Yuansheng (饶原生).粄食 (Bǎn),“中国第五大发明”(A Quinta Grande Invenção da China) [J].同舟共进,2020(06):83-86.

[4] Luo, Xin (罗鑫).有关“粄”的历史人类学考察——基于汉字文化圈视野 (O estudo antropologico histórico sobre ‘Ban’ – baseado na perspectiva cultural de Hanzi) [J].汕头大学学报(人文社会科学版),2017,33(08):47-52+96.

[5] Wang, W.Z. et al. (2020). "Traçando as origens do Hakka e Chaoshanese  por analise de DNA mitocondrial". Jornal Americano de Antropologia Física. 141 (1): 124–30.

[6] Xiban  é um tipo de ban doce que combina farinha de arroz glutinoso e açucar. Geralmente parece vermelho.

[7] ‘萝卜粄’ em Han Chinês.

[8] O Cantonês aqui se refere ao grupo ectinico Cantonês do povo cantonês e não a região administrativa da provincia de Guangdong. Tanto o povo Hakka  e o povo Cantones se encontram na provincia de Guangdong a qual é também referida como região Cantonês.

 


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Zhihao Zhong

Zhihao Zhong

Zhihao Zhong (he/they) studies public policy in Berlin. He previously worked at a Chinese village school for two years and enjoyed his close contact with the nature there. Zhihao can’t take their eyes off feminism and intersectionality, but you may buy them off with good food or animals.

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