Meals of fortune for Lunar New Year

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite all the recent flooding in Jakarta and other parts of the country, the ethnic Chinese population is anticipating the Chinese New Year with enthusiasm and excitement as family members begin to gather together.

It has become a tradition for the intimate New Year's family gathering to be accompanied by a special feast shared with friends and relatives.

"The most important time is actually New Year's eve. It's special because the whole family gathers for a special dinner after a long year of hard work. This is the time when we cook all types of good food," said Raymond Ng from the Lei Garden Chinese seafood restaurant at the World Trade Center on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta.

The Chinese New Year falls on Tuesday. It marks the opening day of the first lunar month, when the Chinese begin to celebrate the arrival of spring.

He added that this special celebration usually lasted for 16 days and was often viewed as an opportunity to strengthen family bonds and friendships, while savoring symbolically significant food and other specially prepared dishes.

Chinese people believe that eating food with a symbolic meaning may bring them prosperity, good luck and good health in the coming year. These dishes are usually consumed on New Year's eve.

The special feast reflects a mastery not only of cooking delicious food but also the art of composing words to create beautiful blessings based on the cooking ingredients. All are created in the spirit of the coming year.

"Some food items sound like a blessing in Chinese, such as being prosperous or accumulating a fortune. These food items are often added so the name of the particular dish becomes a real blessing," Raymond explained.

Among the auspicious foods are dried oyster or hao shi (literary meaning "good market" or bringing success to a business), a type of seaweed called black moss or fah cai (meaning to be prosperous) and Chinese lettuce or sheng cai (or gathering a fortune).

Another tradition is yu sheng , the tossing of a Chinese salad. The salad consists of different kinds of brightly colored vegetables, such as shredded carrot, pickled vegetables, shredded chili and finely sliced white radish with either sliced raw fish, lobster or abalone as the main item.

Raymond said that the cold fish would fit in the nian nian you yu blessing, translated separately as nian nian (year after year), you (to have) and yu (fish or abundance).

Each salad ingredient is shaped like a hill (representing abundance) and all are neatly arranged on one large plate. The plate is placed in the center of a round table where all family members assemble with chopsticks in hand. The salad is first seasoned with sweet and sour sauce, corn oil, cinnamon powder and pepper before being tossed by the diners.

"Chinese people believe that the higher you toss, the more prosperous you will be, so people toss the salad with a lot of gusto. This way of tossing the salad can really warm up the atmosphere," Raymond said, while adding that yu sheng is eaten as an appetizer for lunch and dinner every day for the next 16 days.

It is also a tradition for diners to leave some food as leftovers on their plates. "The leftovers also symbolize abundance," he added.

Raymond also said that Chinese people in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia usually accompany their New Year's meal with their favorite beverages.

Just as all the ingredients are mixed together on the plate, so do happiness and good blessings for the coming year mingle in the convivial atmosphere.