Foods of the Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year Foods
Photo Credits: http://www.findnewbiz.com/images/ChineseNewYearFood.jpg

Chinese New Year season extends officially about two weeks, with many days preparing in advance. It is the most elaborate and important holiday in the Chinese calendar. Food plays a vital part in most of the festivities. The Chinese congratulate each other on having passed through another year and feast together. Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is the most important family occasion of the year.

New Year's Eve dinner is usually a feast of sybolic seafood and dumplings. These include prawns for liveliness, dried oysters (ho xi) for all things good; raw fish salad (yu sheng) for good luck; "fai-hai" an edible angel hair-like seaweed for prosperity and dumplings boiled in water to recover a long-lost good wish for the family. Everyone wears red to ward off evil spirits and avoids the black and white which represent death and mourning.

Jai Salad
http://examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/salad.jpg

On New Year's Day, the Chinese family eat a vegetarian dish called "jai." The various ingredients are root or fibrous vegetables. These include: lotus seed = hope for many male offspring; ginkgo nut = hope for silver; black moss seaweed = hoped for wealth; dried bean curd = more hoped for wealth and happiness; bamboo shoots = wishing all goes well.

The entire first week is for socializing. This is when the Togetherness Tray is shared. The Seventh Day of the New Year is considered "Everyone's Birthday" as individual birthdays are not considered as important as turning a year older together at New Year's. Noodles are eaten to promote longevity and raw fish for success.

Also on the Seventh Day, farmers are encouraged to display their produce. These farmers make a drink from seven types of vegetables to celebrate.

On the Tenth to Twelfth Days of New Year there is more feasting with friends and family.

The 13th day, the Chinese diet a bit, on rice and mustard greens to cleanse their digestive systems after so much rich food.

The Lantern Festival and parade on the 15th ends Chinese New Year.

Back to the Top

Zaowang: Chinese Kitchen Guardian

Many Chinese homes all over China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia have a picture of the Kitchen God Tsao Chun hanging above the stove. Tsao Chun not only watches over the domestic affairs of a family, but he is a moral force in the lives of all family members. It is Tsao Chun who ascends to heaven every year during the Chinese new year to present a report to the Jade Emperor as to the good or bad behavior of each family member.

Customarily,family members then try to "bribe" Tsao chun by smearing his mouth with sugar or honey so that he may present a "sweetened" version of their deeds or misdeeds as the case may be. Tsao Chun's ascent to heaven is accomplished by burning his image: the smoke rising to the heavens symbolically representing his journey to the Jade Emperor. A new picture of him is then placed above the stove for the coming year.

In the above representation of Tsao Chun, we see him and his wife flanked by two servants holding jars in which are stored the the rewards or punishments for the deeds or misdeeds that have occured during the year. Two other servants stand in the foreground:they serve both Tsao Chun and the Jade Emperor and are intermediaries between the heavenly and earthly world.

Back to the Top

Togetherness Tray
Photo Credits: http://www.coms.hkbu.edu.hk/~karachan/visualproject3/

When visiting relatives, it’s customary for them to offer guests tea, along with a round or octagonal tray filled with a variety of treats, from nuts to sweets. This is known as chyuhn haap, or the Tray of Togetherness.

Traditionally, the tray was made of wood, with eight interior dishes of porcelain, but nowadays many people opt for plastic. I prefer the look of rosewood — it shows more class.

The tray usually contains an inner set of eight compartments to help keep the goodies separated. Each compartment is filled with a special symbolic food:

• Candy Melon (growth and good health)

• Coconut (unity)

• Kumquat (gold; for prosperity)

• Longan (many good sons)

• Lotus Seeds (fertility)

• Lychee Nut (close family relationships)

• Peanuts (longevity)

• Red Melon Seeds (red; for happiness, joy, honesty and sincerity)

Back to the Top

Sticky Cake (Nian Gao, Steamed Chinese Fruit Cake)

Photo credits: www.dimsumdolly.com/archives/2004_01.html

There are many traditions associated with the Chinese New Years season or Spring Festival. However, one important tradition takes place before the old year has come to a close. According to legend, one week before the Spring Festival begins, the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report on a family's behavior during the previous year. A negative report by the Kitchen God means a family will suffer from bad luck during the year to come.

In order to ensure a favorable report from the Kitchen God, the custom evolved of feeding him Sticky Cake. According to different accounts this was either a bribe, or simply a means of ensuring the Kitchen God's mouth was too full of cake to pass on an unfavorable report. Sticky Cake is steamed (as are most Chinese cakes) and made with glutinous rice flour and dried fruit. The version below uses sugar, but you'll also find recipes using peen tong, a traditional Chinese brown candy.