There are few festivities celebrated around the world on the identical fantastic scale that the Chinese New Year is celebrated. This is an occasion that affects people all around the world. The celebrations are rather exotic and a lot of fun for everyone who takes part. One thing that many outsiders may not appreciate is that most of the aspects of the Chinese New Year celebrations have a very specific purpose and connotation. Even the food.
Whether you are Chinese are not, I ‘m certain that you could use a degree of good luck to make things run a little more smoothly in your life.
When it comes to cooking for a Chinese New Year celebration there are a few things you have to keep in mind. The dishes that are prepared each have their very own significance and a definite reason for being cooked.
Dumplings are supposed to bring wealth in the New Year to those who eat them on this particular day. Of course, riches is something that most people want to have and there are many ways of doing so. Other foods that symbolize the attainment of wealth on the Chinese New Year are bamboo shoots, black moss seaweed, egg rolls, and oranges. This is just the start of the lesson in the symbolic nature of dishes for the Chinese New Year.
Longevity or long life is something else that the Chinese famously yearn for. Eternal youth some may call it. The secret, they say, to a long life is the eating of the right food as part of the New Year celebrations. Those foodstuffs include: noodles, Chinese garlic, chives, and peanuts.
Prosperity is attributed to foods such as lettuce, whole fish, and pomelo. In addition to success whole fish and pomelo are believed to bring abundance and togetherness (as in marriage or romance) during the coming year.
Chicken is the main course if happiness is the goal. In addition, chicken is associated with marriage, particularly when served with foods, which are considered to be dragon foods, such as lobster.
Those wanting children in the near future should add eggs, seeds (such as watermelon seeds) and pomelo – above all the last two, if you want a couple of children.
To end with, if good luck is what you most require, try to add a tangerine or some seaweed to your plate on this special day. If your run of luck has been really very bad recently, you may want to double up on your serving of both.
The Internet contains masses of delicious recipes to help you commemorate the Chinese New Year as traditionally as you can. Recipes for foods such as Jiaozi (Chinese noodles) and egg rolls are to be found online and they will go some way towards creating the right atmosphere. Add a few lettuce wraps and longevity noodles and you will have a good basis for a Chinese New Year meal.
The only other thing you require then to make your Chinese New Year celebrations go with a bang (quite literally) is fireworks. The Chinese New Year would not be the same without them, so choose your food well, either buy it or cook it (or both) and then let off your fireworks safely for a great winters evening’s entertainment.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots