People know some information about the Lunar New Year, but they don’t really know about the cuisine that the Chinese people eat during that day.
So, here are the top 7 food that the Chinese people eat during Lunar New Year:
The Chinese rice cake is actually different from the ones that we see in the stores. The ones that we see in stores are usually crunchy, but the Chinese rice cakes are very chewy. There two types of rice cake that you’ll find on the table. The first kind is a stir fried, so usually this is savory, but it can be sweet too. The second kind is sweet rice cake, people can grill it or make soup out of it. In Chinese, rice cake sounds like it means “‘getting higher year-on- by year”‘. In Chinese people’s minds, this means the higher you are the more prosperous your business is a general improvement in life.
When the Chinese people are cooking their fish, it has to be a whole fish with the head and tail. But it doesn’t matter how you cook the fish. Some people steamed their fish while others deep fried it. In Chinese, fish sounds like surplus. Fish is a traditional Lunar New Year dish. Chinese people always like to have a surplus at the end of the year, because they think if they have managed to save something at the end of the year, then they can make more in the next year.
There are different stuffings in the rice balls, some are made with black sesame paste, red bean paste, or peanut paste.The pronunciation and round shape of tangyuan are associated with reunion and being together.
Dumpling indicate wealth in the Chinese culture. The legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during the New Year celebrations, the more money you can make in the New Year.
Spring Rolls (春卷 chun juan)
Spring rolls are also associated with wealth. Because the fried spring rolls look like gold bars. In the spring rolls, there are usually made with vegetables, bean curds, and any sort of meat.
Longevity noodles are unsurprisingly symbolize a wish for longevity. Their length are also symbolic of the eater’s life. They are longer than normal noodles and uncut, either fried and served on a plate, or boiled and served in a bowl with their broth.
Certain fruits are eaten during the Chinese New Year period, such as tangerines and oranges, and pomelos. They are selected as they are particularly round and “golden” in color, symbolizing fullness and wealth, but more obviously for the lucky sound they bring when spoken. Eating and displaying tangerines and oranges is believed to bring good luck and fortune due to their pronunciation, and even writing. Eating pomelos/shaddocks is thought to bring continuous prosperity. The more you eat, the more wealth it will bring, as the traditional saying goes.
