Food is an integral part of Chinese New Year festivities, and eating the right dishes can determine your family’s good fortune, prosperity, health, and relationships for the upcoming year.
During the course of the celebration, each person should consume something sugary, so that he will have a sweet year; something round because roundness represents unity and completion; and something sticky, so his family will stay – or stick – together in the upcoming year.
Round paired with red or yellow-ish is always a winning combination. For this reason, it’s lucky to have plants bearing kumquats and mandarins around the house. Baby abalone, shimmering gold in its brine, is a familiar delicacy this time of year, as are red tortoise cakes, crimson-colored and prepared in a round mold.
Chinese New Year snacks are served in a round, red dish, which must be constantly replenished or full to bring a year of abundance. Snacks in the dish include melon seeds, often dyed red for luck, candied ginger, to add some spice to life, sugary carrots to bring wealth, and lotus – cut on the round of course – representing fertility.
Other shapes can also be lucky. I spied at the market almond cookies shaped like fish and small pineapple tarts that resembled gold ingots. Pineapple is especially noteworthy because the character sounds similar to the one for wealth and success.
The traditional New Year’s cake is, in Chinese, “nin goh.” The Chinese character, “goh,” means cake – but also “rise” – as in stature or promotion. Pork signifies wealth, fish represents abundance, and a popular black fungus, “fat choi,” has characters similar to that of “prosperity.” As an added bonus, when put in water it expands, and eating it implies your fortunes will as well.
Peanuts, which in Mandarin are called, “long nuts” are eaten to ensure a lengthy life, as are noodles. Mushrooms represent the blossoming of life and are a must this time of year.
Listening to friends and acquaintances reveal the secrets of their favorite New Year’s dishes, I started to think about American food, and remembered a scene from Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” George Bailey is welcoming the Martinis to their new home and gives them bread, so that they may never know hunger, salt so that life may always have flavor, and wine, so that their life may be joyful.
Am I the only one who thinks these traditions are charming? If you know other old American food traditions, please share them.
Read about other food adventures at Wanderfood Wednesday.