RE-ENVISION: Dumplings

RE-ENVISION is an ongoing series of research memos produced by our associates at Appetite. We trace the cultural genealogies of food from around the world to challenge commonly held beliefs about origin and authenticity. 

Dumplings can be found all around the world. Their shapes and sizes may change across, but they all have in common a dough, usually wheat-based and unleavened, that wraps a filling, usually meat-based.¹ The most common fillings are mutton, chicken, beef, and pork.² Cooking methods of dumplings also vary by region. In China, steaming is prevalent, while in Turkey dumplings are usually boiled or baked and then soaked in broth.³

The origins of dumplings are a highly debated topic. Two main theories suggest points of origin in either China or Central Asia, and they both draw on the etymological roots of mantou, the Chinese word for dumpling. 

The first approach suggests that dumplings originated in China and then moved across Central Asia.⁴

This theory is supported by the earliest reference to mantou in a Chinese text, Rhapsody on Bing, written by Shu Xi in AD 217-365. Shu Xi describes mantou as large pastries filled with meat usually served in feasts and banquets.⁵

Another 3rd century reference to the mantou is a legend about the great salesmen and strategist Zhuge Liang. According to the legend, Zhuge Liang was on a military campaign when he encountered insurmountable difficulties and was told to propitiate local spirits with offerings of human heads. Unwilling to kill, he instead decided to fool the gods by making a dough ball stuffed with meat. There are two more versions of the same legend from the Song Dynasty (AD 960 -1279) and the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644).⁶

The legend is a valuable piece of evidence because the Chinese term mantou (馒头) has no intrinsic meaning. It likely started as mantou (蛮头) which means barbarian head. In time, the character 蛮, which is used to describe southern barbarian tribes, was replaced with the character 馒, which sounds the same but without any equivalent meaning. Along the way, dumplings shrunk in size and stopped resembling human heads.⁷

The second theory suggests that dumplings originated among Turkic nomadic tribes in Central Asia Chinese dumplings were hence the result of later interactions with their Western neighbours. 

Etymological evidence is in favour of this theory. In Chinese History: A Manual, Endymion Wilkinson explains that the Chinese language has been influenced by the languages of Turkic and Altaic tribes living in the peripheries of China through invasions.⁸ A very common practice was to attach the word barbarian to an existing Chinese word. Given that the character man (蛮), the first half of mantou, is used to describe barbaric tribes, we have at least some evidence of the pattern of borrowed words in the Chinese language.

Another linguistic finding that supports this theory comes from a Ming Dynasty dictionary written by Zhu Wei. Mantou, Zhu writes, was originally known as tou tou qi, meaning camel’s navels. What is striking is that this word sounds very similar to the modern Chinese word for Turkey, tu er qi. This similarity could once again point to the dumpling’s Turkic or Central Asian origins.⁹

In the tenth century, dumplings started to travel outside China and Central Asia. One example is the Russian pel’meni, which likely developed with the Mongols who learned how to make dumplings during their interactions with the Chinese between the tenth and thirteenth centuries.¹⁰ We also have reason to believe that the Mongols then brought pel’meni with them into Siberia and other parts of Eastern Europe because of the abundant use of black pepper, an ingredient introduced to Siberia by Mongols, in seasoning the dumpling.¹¹

Dumplings also traveled to Korea, known there as mandu, with the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century. A popular Korean song from the time, called ‘mandu shop,’ describes a dumpling restaurant run by a man of central Asian origin in Korea.¹²

Annotated Bibliography

Gallani, Barbara. Dumplings – A Global History. Reaktion Books, 2015. 

Barbara Gallani is director of food safety and science at the UK Food and Drink Federation. In her book Dumplings – A Global History, she looks at the ways different dumplings are made al over the world. The book provides a great overview of the various types of dumplings in terms of cooking techniques, shapes, and ingredients.

Dunlop, Fuchsia.”Barbarian Heads and Turkish Dumplings: The Chinese Word Mantou.” In Wrapped & Stuffed Foods: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2012, ed. Mark McWilliams, 128-143. Totnes, Devon, England: Prospect Books, 2013. 

Fuchsia Dunlop is a cook and food-writer specialising in Chinese cuisine. She is the author of the award-winning cookbooks such as Land of Fish and Rice: Recipes from the Culinary Heart of China. In Barbarian Heads and Turkish Dumplings: The Chinese Word Mantou she talks about the origins of the word mantou by using the etymology of the word mantou. 

Hudgins, Sharon.”Siberian Stuffed: A Profusion of Pel’meni.” In Wrapped & Stuffed Foods: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2012, ed. Mark McWilliams,212-221. Totnes, Devon, England: Prospect Books, 2013. 

Sharon Hudgins is an award-winning writer, a university professor, book and magazine editor, newspaper and magazine columnist, filmmaker, and photographer. In Siberian Stuffed: A Profusion of Pel’meni she talks about the origins of pel’meni as well as how it evolved in time.

Pettid, Michael J. Korean Cuisine: an Illustrated History. London: Reaktion Books, 2008.

Michael J. Pettid is a professor of premodern Korean studies in the Department of Asian and Asian American studies at Binghamton University. In his book Korean Cuisine: an Illustrated History he gives a great overview of the history of Korean food and culture.

Written by Ekin Balci.