Saying It With Food -Gong Xi Fa Chai(Happy Chinese New Year)

Food is an important aspect of Chinese culture. This is doubly so during the Chinese New Year season, an aspcious time when many of the foods served have names that sound like a character with a lucky meaning. Sometimes the ymbolism may not lie in the name but in the color or shape. The more popular festive foods are the ones that successfully represent happiness, prosperity, luck or fortune.

Some of them, such as chicken, leafy vegetables, fish and noodles are served whole to represent family unity. In the olden days in China, food was hard to come by and the Chinese New Year was the time of the year when a whole pig, duck, chicken pr fish was served at the dinner.

Fish, in particular, bears special meaning because its Chinese character is written in a way to represent 'more than enough' symbolizing that the family will always enjoy abundance. This has brought about the relatively new culture of having 'lou sang' (tossing the dish) paries where 'yee sang' (thinlu sliced fresh fish) is served.

So before you head to the stores for your Chinese New Year shopping or to a restaurant for dinner, we uncover some symbolisms behind some foods to guide you along:

Noodles- Longevity
Oyesters-Happy events expected
Dumplings-weath and fortune
Fish-Togetherness and abundance
Dried air moss(fatt choy)-Good fortune
Egg or spring rolls-Wealth and prosperity
Dried bean curd-Happiness
Chicken-Happiness and marriage
Eggs-Fertility
Lychee nuts-Close family ties
Oranges/Tangerines (kam)-Wealth
Peanuts-A long life
Pomelo-Abundance,prosperity,having children
Seeds(lotus or watrmelon)-Having a large number of children

Tray of Togetherness: Many families keep a tray full of dried fruits, sweets and candies to welcome guests and relatives who drop by. Traditionally, it was made up of eight compartments, each of which was filled with foods such as an assortment of snacks and seeds.