Bunun Millet Cake

Bunun millet cake is a traditional dish that is typical of Aboriginal Taiwanese cuisine. The cake is typically made with local glutinous varieties of millet such as foxtail millet, common millet, and sorghum. Millet grits are soaked in water, then boiled, and finally pounded into a sticky dough, which is then steamed inside a banana leaf wrapping. Traditionally, this sticky millet cake is sweetened with honey. As its name suggests, this cake is one of the specialties that have been traditionally prepared by the Bunun people, for whom millet has long been a prized food crop and a symbol of happiness and fortune. In Taiwan, these sticky millet cakes, along with millet wine, have traditionally been prepared for festive occasions and holidays such as New Year’s Eve and weddings. Similar millet cakes have also been prepared by other indigenous Taiwanese people including the Paiwan and the Rukai.