Inside Our Zongzi Workshop in London: Celebrating Dragon Boat Festival Through Food

If you have ever seen pyramid-shaped parcels at a Chinese restaurant and wondered what was inside, you have probably met zongzi. These leaf-wrapped parcels of sticky rice are one of the best-known foods of the Dragon Boat Festival, and recently, a group of Londoners gathered to make them by hand.

Hosted by London Chinese Culture Meetup and sponsored by Nihao Serica, the workshop brought together people curious about Chinese food, festivals, and culture for a morning of folding leaves, filling rice, tying string, and sharing the results around the table.

For anyone looking for Chinese cultural events in London, this was exactly the kind of experience that makes culture feel close: practical, social, slightly messy, and full of small discoveries.

Zongzi are traditional Chinese rice parcels made by wrapping glutinous rice and fillings in leaves before steaming or boiling them. They are especially associated with the Dragon Boat Festival, known in Chinese as 端午节 (Duānwǔ Jié).

The fillings vary across China. Some regions prefer savoury zongzi with pork, salted egg yolk, mushrooms, or beans. Others make sweet versions with red dates, red bean paste, or sugar. At this London workshop, participants worked with lotus leaves, glutinous rice, pork, red dates, and sugar.

The result was simple in concept but surprisingly difficult in practice: fold the leaf into a cone, portion the rice, tuck in the filling, close the shape, and tie it tightly enough that it survives cooking.

The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is widely associated with Qu Yuan, a poet and statesman from ancient China.

According to the traditional story, local people threw rice parcels into the river after Qu Yuan's death, hoping to protect his body from fish. Over time, that gesture became part of a wider festival tradition involving dragon boat racing, family gatherings, and zongzi.

More than 2,000 years later, the food still carries that sense of memory and care. Making zongzi is not just a recipe. It is a way families pass on technique, regional taste, festival knowledge, and time together.

That was the spirit behind the workshop: not just eating Chinese food in London, but learning the story and skill behind it.

The session began at 11:00am at Loong Express, with an introduction to the Dragon Boat Festival and the meaning of zongzi. From there, the workshop moved quickly from story to practice.

An experienced teacher demonstrated each step: preparing the leaves, layering rice, adding fillings, shaping the parcel, folding the edges, and tying everything with string. Around the tables, participants copied, adjusted, laughed, and tried again.

The photos and videos from the day show the real charm of the event:

• hands carefully folding lotus leaves into shape

• bowls of glutinous rice and fillings spread across the table

• participants helping each other understand the wrapping technique

• finished zongzi piled into bowls, tied with colourful string

• people tasting what they had made together

This is what made the workshop feel distinct from a normal restaurant meal. The food was not just served. It was earned, handled, learned, and shared.

Each participant made three zongzi, using a classic combination of:

After wrapping, the zongzi were sent to the professional kitchen to be steamed. That gave everyone time to relax, talk, and meet other people interested in Chinese culture.

By around 1:00pm, the group sat down to taste the zongzi they had made. Some were neat, some were charmingly imperfect, but all of them carried the same reward: the pleasure of turning a tradition into something you can hold in your hand.

For Londoners interested in China, food is often the easiest doorway in. But events like this go one step deeper than simply ordering a dish.

A zongzi workshop teaches:

• the cultural meaning of a festival

• the patience behind traditional food

• the differences between Chinese regional tastes

• the social feeling of learning around a shared table

It also creates a more personal kind of connection. You remember a festival differently after you have tried to fold the leaves yourself.

That is why London Chinese Culture Meetup exists: to create warm, in-person spaces where people can encounter Chinese culture through language, food, festivals, arts, film, travel, and conversation.

This workshop was sponsored by Nihao Serica, a London-based China inbound travel agency specialising in high-touch China travel and cultural journeys.

Nihao Serica supports London Chinese Culture Meetup because both share a simple belief: curiosity about China often begins with real cultural contact. Sometimes that starts with food around a table in London. Sometimes it grows into a journey across China itself.

The aim is not to turn a community event into a sales pitch. It is to support more thoughtful cultural experiences for people who want to understand China beyond headlines, stereotypes, or surface-level tourism.

London Chinese Culture Meetup hosts friendly, in-person events for people who are curious about Chinese culture, whether they are complete beginners, language learners, frequent travellers, or members of the Chinese diaspora looking for community.

Future events may include language exchange, food workshops, festival celebrations, film nights, travel talks, and social mixers.

If you want to experience Chinese culture in London before planning a deeper journey to China, follow London Chinese Culture Meetup and Nihao Serica for upcoming events.

A zongzi workshop is a hands-on class where participants learn to wrap glutinous rice and fillings in leaves, tie the parcels with string, and cook them. Zongzi workshops are often held around Dragon Boat Festival.

Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It is associated with Qu Yuan, dragon boat racing, family gatherings, and eating zongzi.

London Chinese Culture Meetup hosts Chinese cultural events in London, including food and festival workshops. Follow LCCM and Nihao Serica for future zongzi and Dragon Boat Festival events.

No. LCCM events are designed to be welcoming for beginners. You do not need Chinese language skills to join a food workshop, festival event, or social meetup.

Zongzi can be either sweet or savoury. Different regions of China use different fillings, including pork, mushrooms, salted egg yolk, red bean paste, red dates, and sugar.