Chinese Lunar New Year Food

Eating niangao is accompanied by the phrase getting higher year after year by year meaning a general improvement in life.

Chinese lunar new year food. In addition certain dishes are served throughout the two week celebration based on their physical appearance. The chinese new year or spring festival as it s been called since the 20th century remains the most important social and economic holiday in china. Fish an increase in prosperity. The most common chinese new year foods include dumplings fish spring rolls and niangao.

Find lunar new year 2020 recipes menu ideas and cooking tips for all levels from bon appétit where food and culture meet. We ve rounded up 7 essential chinese or lunar new year dishes and included the symbolism behind them all. The name 春卷 chūnjǔn literally means spring and roll and refers to the spring season. Braised shiitake mushrooms with bok choy a type of chinese cabbage is a vegetable dish that some families of chinese heritage traditionally eat during lunar new.

Niangao is a traditional glutinous rice cake made of sticky rice sugar chestnuts dates and lotus leaves. Turnips are cooked because their name cai tou also means good luck niangao a steamed sweet cake made of glutinous rice is a popular dessert for the new year as it is a homonym for higher year. Many of the festivities center around food and dishes are chosen because they symbolize health prosperity or luck. Fish yu is served because it sounds similar to the chinese word for plenty.

Whole fish represents abundance. The dumpling is a traditional lucky food in china and enjoys worldwide popularity now. 6 braised shiitake mushrooms. The lunar new year is celebrated by the chinese vietnamese japanese korean mongolians and tibetans.

A whole chicken eaten during the chinese new year season symbolizes family togetherness and uncut noodles represent a long life.