Black Dragon Cafe

“]

Eating marijuana seeds is common throughout Yunnan, both in the cities and countryside, in the same way that sunflower seeds are eaten in the rest of China: As people chat there is the continual movement of their hand from the pile of seeds to their mouth and back again. The husks are spat onto the floor, which is why you often see plants in populated areas – the occasional spat-out seed takes root. Marijuana is native to Yunnan, and can be found growing wild throughout the province.

Known as mazi in colloquial Chinese, the seeds have no narcotic effect. They are a snack used to kill time, which is how restaurants use them – plates of marijuana seeds are left on the table so that customers don’t feel like they’re waiting around for their food.

With increased awareness of drugs of all varieties, the police have tried to curb the mazi habit. It’s a bit of a half-hearted curb though, as Chinese people don’t smoke marijuana and I suspect many of Yunnan’s police force grew up with bowls of mazi in the house, and grandma always had a huge bowl on the tea table. There is a story about the central government’s Narcotics Control Bureau coming to Kunming to check up on the work of the Yunnan branch – they were greeted by a huge marijuana plant growing outside the local offices.