"Growing up, I always found the dumplings a bit dusty tasting but I grew fonder of them as an adult because they contain a lot of memories."

For journalist Brian Liou, 34, growing up in San Francisco meant he had plenty of chances to sample rice dumplings as a child. It is the food he remembers best, and it is this memory he holds dear at Duanwu, even if the origins of the festival are also almost lost to him.

"Our fridge always had a steady supply of zongzi. It made for the perfect lunch to take to school or as an after-school snack. In Beijing, I've had a hard time finding the fat savory zongzi. It seems that northern Chinese mostly eat dumplings that are sweet.

"The zongzi here are much smaller. It seems like with everything in the US, they've gotten bigger there. The zongzi from Chinese supermarkets in Chinatown in San Francisco or around the Bay Area mostly came with peanuts or yellow beans, sweet sausages or fatty pork and salted duck egg yolk."

American chef and writer Lillian Chou had to return to Asia before she connected the festival with the food.

"Actually, we never celebrated this holiday in my home and I hadn't heard of it until I moved to Singapore in 1999. I recall my Cantonese grandmother making zongzi filled with salted egg yolks, some pork and chestnuts on special occasions, and I'm pretty certain it must have been Duanwu. Unfortunately, she is long gone so I cannot ask her.

"One thing about Americans, given the melting pot of cuisines — we often referred to zongzi as Chinese tamales.

"Many Chinese grocers sell ready-made zongzi with different markings to identify the fillings. We tend to have savory meat dumplings like the Shanghai-style. The most popular that I know of has the Cantonese filling."

Chou's mother served dumplings for breakfast and she remembers her mother cutting them with string "like an Italian might slice firm polenta".

"When there was time, they were pan-fried so they were slightly crisp on the edge and gooey yummy on the inside. But more often, they were steamed. Now people zap them in the microwave."

Nearer home, the ethnic Chinese communities in Singapore and Malaysia have made the zongzi their own — except they don't call it "zongzi". In the local vernacular, the dumplings are known as "bak chang", which comes from the southern Chinese dialects of Fujian and Chaozhou.

K.F. Seetoh, arguably Singapore's most famous food-lover and publisher of an eating guide called Makansutra, says dumplings have remained original in most cases, with none of the over-commercialization and over-packaging prevalent in China.

"We still have the mostly traditional versions, like the ki chang (alkaline dumplings), sweet ones with red beans, ‘peasant-style' mung beans, and Hokkien (Fujianese) salted meat.

"There is also the Peranakan bak chang that uses ketumbar (coriander seed powder) as a base marinade for the meat, with candy melon strips. Unlike moon cakes for Mid-Autumn Festival, the bak chang culture has remained largely true to origin."

Seetoh refers to folk customs and culinary heritage brought over by the Cantonese, Fujianese and Chaozhou people, who made up the bulk of the pioneer Chinese settlers in Malaysia and Singapore.

"The dumplings are still mostly sold in little stalls, restaurants and hotels, and folks buy them as gifts for friends and family. This has become a form of bonding today."

Seetoh remembers the dumplings of his childhood and laments some of the sacrifices made for health.

"I miss the really sinful Hokkien salted meat and chestnut versions which the old aunties used to make with a slab of fat inside (to moisten, smoothen and enhance flavors). These days, overly health-conscious folks are looking at lean meat only. It is just so different in texture and mouth sensation."

Duanwu is a good excuse to reconnect with friends and relatives, and Seetoh says he will arrive bearing bags of dumplings. For him, the best still come from the little dumpling houses.

"These shops can never make enough to meet demand, and you have to order months in advance."