Many new year dishes are served "whole"; such as whole fish, or whole chicken or duck, this is because the action of slicing and cutting carries bad connotations, like severing family ties.
At New Year, a special emphasis is placed on the symbols represented by different foods. Here is what these traditional foods represent:
Bamboo shoots: Wealth.
Black moss seaweed: Wealth.
Chicken: Represents happiness and marriage.
Dried Bean Curd: Happiness.
Eggs: Fertility.
Egg Rolls: Wealth.
Fish served *whole : Prosperity
Chinese garlic chives: Everlasting, a long life.
Lychee nuts: Close family ties.
Noodles: Represent a long life.
Oranges: Wealth.
Peanuts: A long life.
Pomelo: Abundance, prosperity, having children. (Pomelo is a citrus fruit native to SE Asia.)
Seeds, e.g. lotus or watermelon seeds: Having a large number of children.
Tangerines: Good luck.
The foods vary between regions. You can read more here:
http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/christma鈥?/a>Traditional chinese new year menu?
It's just the usual goodies, chicken, pork, fish... the thing is the Chinese like to serve them whole like a turkey during thanksgiving, a whole chicken, whole fish, see some images:
http://discoverhongkong.com/usa/dining/r鈥?/a>
The dessert for Chinese new year is "tang yuan" which is sweet rice ball with fillings of either black sesame, red bean paste or ground peanut, then there is the new year cake/pudding:
http://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+t鈥?/a>
http://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+t鈥?/a>
No comments:
Post a Comment