Meals of fortune for Lunar New Year
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.