Chinese New Year Dishes
Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 01:32PM By Owen Jones
There are few festivities celebrated around the world on the same grand scale that the Chinese New Year is celebrated. This is an occasion that affects people all around the world. The celebrations are quite exotic and a lot of fun for everyone involved. One thing that many outsiders may not appreciate is that the majority 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 sure that you could use a bit of good fortune 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 bear in mind. The foodstuffs that are cooked each have their very own significance and a specific reason for being prepared.
Dumplings are believed to bring wealth in the New Year to those who eat them on this particular day. Of course, wealth is something that most people want to have and there are many means 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 beginning 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 consumption of the right food as part of the New Year festivities. Those foods 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 consumed with foods, which are considered to be dragon foods, such as lobster.
Those wanting children in the not too distant future ought to add eggs, seeds (such as watermelon seeds) and pomelo - especially the last two, if you want a couple of children.
Finally, if good luck is what you most need, try to add a tangerine or some seaweed to your plate on this auspicious day. If your run of luck has been really atrocious recently, you may want to double up on your helping of both.
The Internet contains loads 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 ambiance. Add a few lettuce wraps and longevity noodles and you will have a good starting point 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 author of this article, writes on many subjects, 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
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Owen_Jones
NOTICE - All Rights Reserved Except as Stipulated Below. PHOTOS MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM. Our reporters and journalists break or report stories and their sources and information are protected by the doctrine of free press as expressed in the First Ammendment, Reporters Privilege Statues, and also the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.This article if a feature or opinion piece is the opinion of the author or reports the news and opinions of others and is NOT INTENDED TO OFFER ADVICE. FOR OPINION STORIES: This story/article/ feature may be an opinion piece — and should be treated accordingly — or reporting on the opinions of others, and should never be considered as a sole source of information or as a suggestion, instruction or prescription. FOR CRIME STORIES: always read the word "allegedly" in any story mentioning "suspects" or "persons of interest". FOR BUSINESSS AND MONEY STORIES: For money/ trade and exchange stories, this magazine and its writers accept no responsibility for accuracy — always check with other sources for important decisions. FOR HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE STORIES: In the case of food/health stories, these facts have not been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Information stated here should be NOT be considered as medical, health, psychological or behavior advice. All information in this story and on this site is provided for educational or entertainment purposes ONLY. Always seek the advice of experts, including doctors for medical opinions. Only a licensed medical doctor can offer medical advice. FOR EXPERT, ADVICE OR HOW-TO STORIES: Legal advice or other expert advice is best referred to experts in their respective fields. NO RESPONSIBILITY: The publishers and editors, authors, researchers, employees, heirs and assigns accept no responsibility whatsoever for any advice, facts, opinions in this story, nor for resulting actions of readers of this information. ALL READERS ACCEPT THAT THIS INFORMATION IS PRESENTED ONLY AS NEWS, EDUCATION, ENTERTAINMENT OR OPINION/INFORMATION AND AGREE IN READING THIS STORY OR THIS SITE THAT USE OF THIS INFORMATION IS SOLELY THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE READER. Copyright by the byline author unless otherwise indicated. EXCERPTS from other magazines or media sources are posted under fair use doctrine, on the basis of no more than 5-10% of content with links and credit to source for the complete story. These are posted in the interest of providing interesting links (description as excerpt) with navigation to the source. Likewise, we encourage our many subscribers to excerpt with credit and links to our e-zines, up to 10% of content. To use more content than 10%, please contact the e-zine for permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED except as stipulated herein. IMPORTANT: this web content also includes a forum and comments function, which allows for posting from users not employed by this publication. We accept no responsibility for posts, content, language or accuracy of posts from outside parties but will attempt to correct any inaccuracies reported within the context of free speach. Where possible, spam, lewd or obscene comments WILL BE REMOVED.
Persona Corp. and Blogertize publishes several webzines, magazines, e-zines for news, entertainment and information, but cautions readers to read the NOTICE above:
* Secure Network News
Sponsored Advertisers
Jameson Bank – Canada's "It's Taken Care Of" Bank
Amer.com – Technology for Life
Reader Comments