Chinese New Year begins today, February 3, 2011 and will be celebrated for the next 15 days, during which many foods considered to be lucky and fortuitous are served. The qualifications for lucky or symbolic foods vary, and their powers can be attributed to their appearance (long noodles for long life) or their names, which may resemble words like “fortune”, “gold,” or “abundance.”
Chinese New Year's dinner 2010: garden lettuce salad, lemongrass-scented rice, and whole fried fish with hot and sour sauce
Last year we enjoyed a salad of garden lettuce (for prosperity) with soy vinaigrette, lemongrass scented rice (which symbolizes well-being and good fortune), and a whole pan fried fish, a symbol of abundance, served with a ginger-garlic hot and sour sauce. It was a spectacular dinner.
2011 will be the year of the Rabbit. According to the horoscope, this will be an easy going, calm year: Good taste and refinement will shine on everything and people will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force. A congenial time in which diplomacy, international relations and politics will be given a front seat again. We will act with discretion and make reasonable concessions without too much difficulty. Money can be made without too much labor. A temperate year with unhurried pace. For once, it may seem possible for us to be carefree and happy without too many annoyances. I’ll drink to that.
I found a fantastic website that explains many of the symbolic foods for Chinese New Year. Lots of good things can be made that are not only tasty and inexpensive but appropriate for this nasty cold weather. Luckily I have a few of them already on hand, growing in the garden and needing to be picked, and I bought a few more to make sure we will have prosperity, wealth, happiness, health, and long life.
On the menu tonight: 
Bamboo shoots (竹笋尖; zhú sǔn jiān) – wealth (term sounds like “wishing that everything would be well” – xǔyuànchí), new start
Chinese garlic chives (韭菜, jiǔcài) – everlasting, eternity, long life
Lettuce and other leafy greens (生菜; shēngcài) – prosperity
Noodles (面条; miàntiáo) uncut – long life
Orange (柑橘; gānjú) – wealth, good fortune, gold
Oysters (牡蠣; mǔlì) – receptivity to good fortune, good business
Pork (猪肉; zhūròu) – strength, wealth, abundant blessings
Shrimp (小虾; xiǎoxiā) – happiness and good fortune
Tangerines (橘; jú) – luck
The oranges and tangerines, after being displayed all day,will be juiced and mixed with Cava for a reception cocktail which we will enjoy with smoked oysters on rice crackers. The first course will be Asian glazed pork spareribs, and for the main dish we will have stir fried noodles with broccoli greens and jumbo Gulf shrimp (because I want extra happiness and good fortune) seasoned with oyster sauce. I still can’t decide if the lettuce and bamboo shoots will be soup or salad. Recipes will be forthcoming as we’ll have the next two weeks to eat our quota of lucky- and tasty- Asian dishes.
| Food offerings are a prayer or a wish and can be addressed to ancestors and other beings such as the Jade Emperor and The Kitchen God. The offering of food serves to bring ancestors and other beings in the other world closer to oneself. The food offerings serve as a bonding tool to bring both worlds together.Below a brief list of the food’s symbolic meaning: Abalone (sea snail; 鳆; fù) – definite good fortune Apple (苹果; píngguǒ) – wisdom, peace Apricot, dried (杏脯; xìngfǔ) – gold, wealth Arrowhead (bot.: Sagittaria sagittifolia; 慈菇; cí gū) – benevolence Arrowroot (bot.: Maranta arundinacea; 竹芋) – good life Bamboo fungus (stinkhorn fungus; bot.: Phallus indusiatus; 竹笙, zhúshēng), also called bamboo pith (竹荪; zhúsūn) – meaning: long life Bamboo shoots (竹笋尖; zhú sǔn jiān) – wealth (term sounds like “wishing that everything would be well” – xǔyuànchí), new start Banana (香蕉; xiāngjiāo), on altar, offering – wish for education, brilliance at work/ school Bean curd, dried/ tofu, dried (豆腐, dòu fǔ)- fulfillment of wealth and happiness (note: dried tofu is not of white colour) Bean sprouts (豆芽; dòu yá, literally “bean sprout/germ” 芽菜; yá cài, literally “sprout vegetable” or 银芽; yín yá, literally “silver sprouts”) – ‘to your heart’s content’, positive start into the new year Black moss (hair moss, hair weed), fat choy (髮菜; fàcài; a black hair-like cyanobacteria) – wealth Cabbage, Chinese (pak choy, 白菜) – 100 types of prosperity luck Calms (scallops; 扇贝; shànbèi) – opening of new horizons Carrots (胡蘿蔔; hú luóbo; or 紅蘿蔔; hóng luóbo), red colour- good luck Cashew nut (腰果, yāoguǒ)- gold, money (the nut’s shape symbolises the gold bar of ancient times) Chicken (whole) (鸡肉; jīròu) – prosperity, togetherness of the family, joy (note: chicken with its head, tail and feet symbolizes completeness) Chinese garlic chives (韭菜, jiǔcài) – everlasting, eternity, long life Coconut, nut (椰子; yēzi), flesh (椰肉; yēròu), juice/milk (椰汁; yēzhī) – promoting togetherness Daylily buds, golden lily buds (金针; jīnzhēn; also called “golden needles”) – wealth Duck (鸭肉, yāròu) – fertility Dumplings – dumplings exist in various kind, see: jiaozi dumplings, yuanxiao/ tangyuan/ tangtuan dumplings Egg (蛋, dàn) – fertility Fa Gao (发糕; fāgāo) the steamed “Prosperity Cake”; the sound “fa” means either “to raise/generate” or “be prosperous” Fish (whole) – The word 魚 (yú), meaning “fish”, has the same pronunciation as the word 餘, which is “remain or surplus”, ‘having leftovers of money’, an increase in prosperity Golden lilly buds, Daylily (bot.: Hemerocallis; 金针; jīnzhēn) – wealth Gingko nuts ( 銀杏; yín xìng; or 白果, bái guǒ)- hope for silver, wealth (the nut’s shape represents a silver yuanbao/ ingot)
Glass noodles, Chinese vermicelli, cellophane noodle, noodle threads (粉絲; fěn sī; also called “bean threads “, mung bean thread) – silver chain Grapes (葡萄, pútaó) – wealth, abundance, fertility, many descendants, family harmony Jiaozi- Dumplings (jiǎozi, 饺子) – wealth (the shape of the jiaozi dumplings is that of a yuanbao ingot, also the word jiǎozi shares the same pronunciation with 角子 (jiǎozi) that is a small jiao coin used in old times. Other meanings: togetherness, heavenly blessing
Jujube (kind of date, red colour; 枣; zǎo, candied jujube: 蜜枣; mìzǎo) – wealth, prosperity, fertilityKumquat (金橘; jīn jú) – gold, hence fortune, wealth Lettuce (生菜; shēngcài) – prosperity Longan (龙眼) – many good son Lotus seeds/ -nuts/ -beans (蓮子; lián zĭ) – a full wallet, many (male) offspring Lychee (荔枝; lìzhī) – close family ties Maize (玉米; yùmǐ) – growth Mandarin (瓯柑; ōugān) – gold, wealth Meat ball (肉丸; ròuwán)- reunion Melon (瓜; guā) – family unity Mixed vegetable (什锦蔬菜; shíjǐn shūcài) – family harmony Muer mushroom, Black fungus, Three ear fungus, Wood ear (木耳; mù ěr) – longevity Noodles (面条; miàntiáo) uncut – long life Onion (洋葱; yángcōng) – cleverness Orange (柑橘; gānjú) – wealth, good fortune, gold Oyster (牡蠣; mǔlì) – receptivity to good fortune, good business Peach – immortality Peanuts (花生; huāshēng) – health, long life, birth of prosperity, continuous growth, multiplication in wealth and good fortune, stability Pineapple (凤梨; fènglí) – wealth, luck, excellent fortune, gambling luck
Pomegranate (石榴; shíliu) – many offsprings Pomelo (柚子; yòuzi) – abundance, prosperity, having children, good health, family unity Pork (猪肉; zhūròu) – strength, wealth, abundant blessing Prawn (大虾; dàxiā) – liveliness Pumpkin (南瓜; nánguā) – prosperity, abundance, descendant’s luck, illustrious children, enchantment, fruit draws earth energy to manifest gold Rice (米饭; mǐfàn) – fertility, luck, wealth, rice symbolizes a link between Heaven (Gods) and Earth (Men) Roseapple (Syzygium jambos; 蒲桃; pú táo) – calmness, peace of mind, no fighting Seaweed, especially black moss, Fat Choy, (in Chinese: 髮菜; pinyin: fàcài; literal meaning: hair vegetable). The two syllables of Fat Choy in Cantonese sound the same as a Cantonese Chinese New Year greeting “Gung1 hei2 faat3 choi4″ (恭喜发财) meaning “congratulations and be prosperous”; additional meanings: – good luck, exceeding wealth. Seeds – lotus seeds, watermelon seeds, etc. – having a large number of children 籽 [zǐ]
Shitake, Black mushroom (冬菇; dōnggū) – longevity, sizing opportunities Shrimp (小虾; xiǎoxiā) – happiness and good fortune Slender Noodle (細粉; xì fě) – see glass noodle Snowpeas (荷蘭豆; hélándòu) – unity Spring roll (春卷; chūnjuǎn) – wealth (the shape represents a gold bar) Sweet corn (甜玉米; tián yùmǐ) – growth, increase Sweets, (糖食; tángshí, 糖果;tángguǒ) rice cake (年糕; nián’gāo) – safety, good fortune and ‘sweeten’ the new year Tangerine (橘; jú) – luck Tangtuan (湯團, tāngtuán,”round dumplings in soup”), sweet dumplings – togetherness, reunion Tangyuan ( 湯圓 ,tāngyuán, “round balls in soup”), sweet dumplings – togetherness, reunion Tofu, dried (豆腐干; dòufǔgān) – fulfillment of wealth and happiness, blessing the houses (note: dried tofu is not of white colour) Tofu, fried (炸豆腐; zhá dòufǔ) – gold, hence wealth Turnip cake (萝卜糕; luóbo gāo) – good omen Vegetable, green (绿叶菜; lǜyècài) – close family ties Walnut (核桃仁; hétàorén) – happiness of the entire family Water chestnut (荸薺; bíqí) – unity Winter noodel (冬粉, dōng fěn) – see glass noodle Yuanxiao, sweet dumpling (元宵; yuánxiāo) – togetherness, reunion NOTE: See also: |
Feliz año del conejo amiga! Prosperidad, abundancia, salud, paz y amor para ti y los tuyos! Te quiero monda’a!