The feast of roe meat and bud of wormwood

Main Dietary Composition and Staple Game

Primary Game Sources

The traditional diet of the Oroqen Nationality【Oroqen Nationality（鄂伦春族）】is dominated by wild game and freshwater fish. Roe meat ranks first on their daily menu, followed by venison, reindeer meat, bear meat and wild boar meat. Hunting and game cooking customs are integral parts of Oroqen traditional folk culture and have been well preserved as local intangible cultural heritage.

Introduction to Roe

Roe【roe（狍子）】is a herbivorous animal under the deer family. Its meat is tender, delicious and high in nutritional value. Historically, roes were widely distributed across the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains【Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains（大小兴安岭）】. For generations, roes were not only the main hunting prey for the Oroqen people, but also the source of raw materials for their roe hide garments.

Cooking Methods and Eating Habits of Roe Meat

Common Cooking Styles

The Oroqen people have developed diverse ways to cook roe meat, including roasting, steaming, braising and boiling. Among all cooking methods, hand-served stewed meat is the most prevalent. Locals prefer meat cooked to half-done, which retains traces of blood for better flavor.

Partiality for Roe Offal

Hunters are especially fond of roe kidneys and livers. Right after catching a roe, they take out these organs and share them on the spot. They hold the belief that eating raw roe kidneys and livers helps protect eyesight and boost physical health.

Roe Meat Feasts on Ceremonial Occasions

Feast Application Scenarios

Roe meat serves as the core delicacy for weddings, traditional festivals and guest-receiving banquets. The roe meat feast held at wedding ceremonies is the most sumptuous and ceremonious one.

Traditional Wedding Feast Customs

In line with Oroqen conventions, both the bride’s family and the groom’s family prepare a complete roe meat feast for the wedding. An esteemed elder of the clan takes charge of the whole feast arrangement. A pair of live-caught roes must be used for the feast. After skinning, the roe hides are singed over fire. The unique smoky fragrance drifts all over the village, symbolizing that all villagers share the joy of the wedding.

Wild Vegetable: Wormwood Bud

Status of Wormwood Bud in Diet

Traditionally, the Oroqen people did not grow cultivated vegetables, and wild wormwood bud was their favorite and essential wild vegetable. Nowadays, their dietary structure has greatly changed with a rich variety of cultivated vegetables available, yet their fondness for wormwood bud remains unchanged.

Plant Traits and Medicinal Value

Wormwood bud【wormwood bud（柳蒿芽）】is a wild plant that grows along riverbanks and in mountain valleys. It has a fresh and aromatic taste. Apart from high edible value, it also features unique medicinal properties. Local folk records show that wormwood bud helps relieve symptoms such as cold, fever, stomachache, hypertension and diabetes.

Picking and Cooking Methods

Every spring and summer, Oroqen women carry baskets to pick fresh wormwood buds in the wild. The buds can be cooked right after harvesting, or sun-dried for long-term storage. Common cooking methods include braising with meat, fish and shrimp, stir-frying, and mixing with seasonings as cold dishes.

Supplementary Notes

1. Unified Annotation Rule

   All proper nouns are marked with Standard English (Chinese) at the first occurrence, consistent with all previous Oroqen cultural articles. The misspelling fell in the original text is uniformly revised to hide (兽皮).

2. Grammar & Expression Revisions

• Fixed grammatical errors including subject-verb disagreement, incomplete sentences and improper collocations; adjusted repetitive and awkward expressions.
• Polished word usage while retaining all original details about ingredients, cooking styles, folk customs and medicinal effects.

1. Cultural Background Supplement

   Added notes that Oroqen game diet and wild vegetable eating customs are important components of the ethnic traditional folk culture and included in local intangible cultural heritage protection scope.