Vegetable Bao (Tzai Bao)

The Chinese festival of Ching-Ming is when people pay their respects to deceased relatives. On these auspicious days, it was customary to be vegetarian. I recall being taken by my grandmother on one occasion to visit the grave of my great-grandfather. I was daunted by the prospect. We paid our respects and burned incense and said our prayers and I remember taking hold of my grandmother’s hand because she looked so sad. She took me in her lap and we sat on a bench and ate her homemade Tzai B