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Happy Lunar New Year! The best part of Chinese New Year for me is, of course, the food! There are so many delicious foods and treats to be had during this festive holiday. From multi-course elaborate meals to candy and savoury snacks to dim sum meals with family, there is a lot of good stuff being shared and eaten. The Chinese are a superstitious group and this is reflected in the foods eaten at this time. There are certain foods that are eaten during the holidays which are said to bring good luck and prosperity in the new year. Plus, they all taste delicious, so why not?
Here is a video from my Snapchat (username: packmeto) introducing some of the snacks that you typically find:
The Meals
During the 15 day festival, there are a number of meals where family come together to eat. In my family, it is our tradition to have a meal on Chinese New Year Eve with my immediate family, and sometimes with my father’s side of the family. On day 2 of the new year, we have a meal with my mother’s side of the family. I love Chinese New Year food so much that one year my flatmate and I attempted to cook a massive new year dinner while living in Budapest for 26 people! We were crazy or what?! Here are a few of the must have dishes gracing the table.
Vegetarian Food
Traditionally, on the first day of the new year many people, especially Buddhist, do not eat meat. While in my family, we don’t strictly follow this, we often try to have a few vegetarian items such as stir fried bean curd, radish cakes, daikon cakes, vegetarian noodles and dumplings.
Another option is to serve Buddha’s Delight (羅漢齋) which is made up of a variety of vegetarian foods including a seaweed-like vegetable called fat choy (髮菜). When cooked, it looks a bit like hair, but because its name sounds similar to words that mean to “strike it rich,” it is an auspicious food to eat during the new year.
Noodles
Noodles are a symbol for life. The longer the noodles, the longer your life. This is why you should never cut your noodles. Noodles are also served for birthday feasts as well for the same reason.
Barbeque Meats
A little bit non-traditional, but my family always goes to the local butcher for some roasted and barbeque meats. These aren’t necessarily Chinese new year foods, but they always make an appearance on our table for special occasions. Typically we will get barbequed pork (char siu 叉燒), roasted pork (siu yuk 燒肉), and roasted duck.
Fish
There is a common Chinese saying “年年有餘” which means every year you have surplus and abundance. The last character (餘yú), sounds like the Chinese word for fish (魚yú) which is why fish is a common dish to have during the Chinese new year. It is also important to keep the fish intact with a head and a tail when served which symbolizes good fortune the whole year from start (head) to end (tail). It is common to serve fish on new year’s eve, but not eat all of it, so that you have some crossing over into the new year.
Chicken
Like fish, a chicken is also served whole. In my family, we normally have a salted chicken, but there are a variety of ways to prepare it. The important part is to ensure that it is a whole chicken. The chicken represents togetherness and bringing together the family.
The Snacks
Some of my favourite foods during this time come in the form of snacks and junk food. They’re nothing like the western sense of the word, though.
Tray of Togetherness
This was my favorite thing growing up as a child. What child wouldn’t be mesmerized by a tray filled with candy all for my taking without any limit? I’m sold! Traditionally, these trays have 8 sections and are typically filled with Chinese candy treats such as candied fruit, dried coconut, and red watermelon seeds. The Chinese candies are nothing like the western concept of candy and they’re not very sweet. To modernize this, my family cuts down on the Chinese treats and add in gold chocolate coins, chewy White Rabbit candies and Starburst like candy called Sugus.
Nian Gao or New Year Cake (年糕)
While not like a cake in the Western sense, nian gao is a must have during the new year. It is made from glutinous rice flour. It is eaten during this holiday because it is believed that it will bring you good luck as “nian gao” in Chinese sounds like “higher year” which implies prosperity year after year.
They come often adorned with the character for prosperity (福) as seen in my example above. Sometimes they take on other auspicious shapes. I remember receiving nian gao in the shape of fish before which is another symbol of Chinese New Year. To eat this, I normally slice it up, dip it into some egg and then fry it. What results is a sticky, slightly sweet, slightly salty delicious treat. So good!
Oranges and Tangerines
Oranges are passed around throughout Chinese New Year. If you go visit someone during this time, you go with a bag of oranges, and as silly as it sounds, leave with a bag of different oranges. They’re also often on display. Why? It’s because the Chinese words for oranges and tangerines sound similar to the words for luck and gold respectively.
When the branches are still attached they also mean fertility. My mother likes to put some on top of our tray of togetherness.
Jau Gok (油角) or Gok Zai (角仔)
Literally meaning oil dumpling, these are a crunchy snack filled with peanuts, coconut flakes, sesame seeds, and sugar. It is a little bit savory and a little bit sweet. Biting into one of these is sure to create a mess as the filling can get everywhere!
Essentially it is a dumpling that has been deep fried. Check out these photos to see how they’re made.
Sesame Balls (煎䭔)
Nothing is better than a freshly fried sesame ball especially during Chinese new year. These golden balls are made from glutinous rice flour, fried and filled with red bean paste. The dough itself is crispy on the outside and soft and chewy inside.
When I was younger, I learned a Chinese rhyme which when translated literally says “sesame balls rolling around, filling the house with gold.” I’m pretty sad that I’m missing this year’s batch of sesame balls from my grandma this year.
There are so many delicious things to enjoy during Chinese New Year and these are only some of my favorites.
Have you celebrated the lunar new year?
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Happy lunar new year, Adelina. 🙂 Cooking for 26 people must have been such a challenge, I hardly manage to cook for four!
During our travels through China we spent a lot of time in local restaurants. Mostly we had no idea what we were eating (we pointed at the dishes the other people were having and said we wanted the same) but it always was very tasteful. We loved it so much we even took a time out from traveling to follow a cooking class. The Chinese cuisine is by far our favorite.
Never again will I cook for that many people! No thanks! Looking and pointing is a great way of trying new foods. I do it too in restaurants – yes Chinese ones too. There are so many different ways of cooking all around the country so it’s cool to check out new dishes.
I’ve never celebrated Chinese new year but am fortunate in having close Chinese friends so was introduced to the delicious food early on! My fondest memory of Chinese food is on a junk in Hong Kong Bay.
That would definitely be a cool experience!
Happy new year! All the food is delicious. My fondest memory of Chinese New Year was in 2008, when I was in Beijing. A friend and I went searching for lunch, but all of the restaurants were of course closed. Then one family came out of a restaurant they owned and must have taken pity on us, as their restaurant was closed too. They all were having lunch together inside and let us join them. I’ll never forget it!
Thanks Caitlyn! Wow, that sounds like an amazing experience and I hope the food was delicious! I definitely want to experience the lunar new year in Asia at some point.
Great post, but you have got to stop with all the food posts…you’re killing me. I never knew that about noodles–very interesting 🙂
Haha, no food post next week. I think 😉
I’ll believe it when I see it 😀
I am definitely hungry now, gong xi fa cai 🙂
Oh wow, we have those fried dumplings in Indonesia, too. Except ours is filled with veggies like carrot, celery, plus noodle and eggs. I would love to taste the Chinese version, but I’m not sure where to get them in Atlanta (where I live now).
Oh whoa! Funny how many cultures have similar things, but not. I would love to try the Indonesian version too. I’ve never even heard of them. What are they called?
This all looks so good! Somehow I never knew the celebration was 15 days long – that’s a lot of opportunities for good food.
You can never have too much good food 🙂
Great post as usual Adelina! I think one of my biggest regrets is never having taken part in the Chinese New Year celebrations in Vancouver. I think I am going to have to change that next year if I am in the country! All of these foods look delectable! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Travis! I’ve only been to a couple events in Vancouver during the new year so I have to spend some time checking them out myself. Maybe next year you’ll be somewhere in Asia for the new year 😉
My Chinese family always celebrated Chinese New Year when I was growing up in Texas. Somehow, I never figured out it was a 15 day celebration. Now, I live in Malaysia and am loving how much the entire town embraces the holiday. Fireworks go off every night, and all the stores are decorated in red and gold with plenty of Horse imagery this year.
It’s just a festive time of the year! Hope you’re enjoying the celebrations 🙂
OOOOoooooh this is not fair!!! I love Chinese food! Posts like this always make me hungry!
I love the new lunar year celebrations and always try to see them in different places if I can. The best have been Hong Kong (obviously) and Singapore, but even at home in Liverpool they are still fun!
I would love to experience them in HK and Singapore. It must have been fabulous!
What a great idea to share the food experiences of your celebration with us! Love it! Makes me hungry 🙂
Mmm celebration food is the best 🙂
I love this post. It teaches us some of the Chinese customs, and it talks about food. My all time favorite theme :). If you ever decide to re-visit Croatia, please, please be our guest. All we’ll ask for is one awesome Chinese dinner. We don’t have many Chinese restaurants here. And ones we have are not extremely good. So good Chinese food is one of the things I miss from Canada.
I’ll definitely let you know when I’m in Croatia next. I still have to see the beautiful coast and take you up on your offer 🙂
That’s so interesting and it’s always great to learn something new. Thankfully, I don’t cut my noodles.
I’m seriously craving some sesame balls now!
Happy New Year to you and your family! Thanks for sharing all the little facts, like the reason for keeping the fish whole and the tradition with the oranges. I never knew that and I feel a bit more cultured now! lol
this is so interesting! I am going to have to bookmark this page so my 8 yr old daughter can read this. She has two friends from China and is always learning new things from them. The noodle thing is awesome.
I love learning about different traditions. I went to the Chinese New Year Festival in London when I was living there a few years ago and it was incredible. They dragons and I guess their keepers would pass out oranges and I never knew the reason until now! I would love to experience what Chinese New Year is like with a family one day
Not only did you make me hungry, but I learned so much about the Chinese New Year! Off to find some Jau Gok!
I really love to learn about new cultures, and learned so much with this post, very interesting, thank you so much. Now I´m hungry =)
#SITSBlogging
I agree with you, food is the best part of Chinese New Year! I always enjoyed being with my Chinese friends before and they serve such awesome food during this celebration. #SITSBlogging.
Okay, I am now officially hungry! I love the Sesame balls and will have to try some of the other foods you mentioned. #SITSBlogging
Great blog, and I love this post–I learned a lot! I’m a big fan of Chinese culture and food.
I was just getting over the jealousy after seeing this play out all over Social Media. Reading this post brought it all back. Ohhhhhh – I must find some friends to share this amazing tradition with next year. I love the pictures. #SITS
I’ve never had the opportunity to try any of these foods, hopefully one day I will. Everything sounds delightful, and I especially love that it all has a meaning as well (luck, prosperity, etc.) Seems like a wonderful tradition. Also I had no idea about the noodles length, good to know! Won’t cut mine. 😉 #SITSblogging
Everything looks delicious! Visiting from #SITSBlogging