A traditional offering of food to ancestors on the eve of Tet in Vietnam.
In
China, it is called “chun jie.” In Vietnam, it is known as “Tet.” And in Korea,
it is “Seollal.”
While
the names may be different, these and other countries mark the coming year with
many similar activities: family reunions, festivals, cleaning and organizing
the home, the color red, and - of course - traditional foods.
Today,
we learn about five foods considered lucky during the Lunar New Year.
Spring rolls
The
Chinese name for the holiday means “spring festival” in English. And spring
rolls -- a common New Year’s food – are named in honor of the holiday.
Spring
rolls are often made of finely cut vegetables, such as carrots and cabbage, and
pork meat. They are wrapped in dough that turns crispy and golden as it fries.
To fry is to cook in oil over high heat.
The
fried spring rolls are said to look like large pieces of gold. The food is a
symbol of wealth and financial success for the coming year.
Spring rolls
Vietnamese red sticky
rice
In
Vietnam, one food you will find during Tet is orange-red sticky rice. The
special dish is called xoi-gac. It is made with gac, a fruit that only grows in
Asia. In English, it is known as baby jackfruit.
The
inside of the fruit is a beautiful, deep red. This gives xoi-gac its orange-red
color. And it is the food's color that makes it especially popular during Tet;
red represents luck, happiness and celebration in many Asian cultures.
Xoi-gac
is made by steaming white sticky rice with the fruit, coconut milk and sugar.
The result is an exceptional, sweet taste.
Xoi gac
Korean rice cake soup
No
Korean New Year celebration is complete without tteokguk, or rice cake soup.
Eating
a bowl of it is said to bring a person a long life. Eating tteokhuk also
represents growing another year older. In fact, Koreans may ask a person their
age by saying “how many bowls of tteokguk have you eaten?”
The
soup includes broth, vegetables and thin, round pieces of rice cake. The round
shape it said to symbolize old Korean money. So, tteokguk is said to bring
riches, too.
A bowl of Korean tteokguk (photo by Stuart Spivak/Wikimedia)
Radish cake
While
Koreans celebrate the New Year with rice cake, people in Taiwan do it with
radish cake. A big reason? In the Hoklo language spoken in Taiwan, the words
for “radish” and “good fortune” are homophones, or words with different
meanings that sound the same.
Radish
cake is made with thinly cut pieces of radish, rice flour, fatty meat, spices,
shrimp and dried mushrooms. It is cut into pieces and fried. The result is a
savory snack.
This
dish can be easily found all year long. But, it is said to bring good luck for
the next 12 months if you eat radish cake around the Lunar New Year.
New Year radish cakes made in the shape of mice for the Lunar Year of the Rat in 2008. Reuters/Bobby Yip
Fish
In
many places in Asia, fish is another lucky food for the New Year. And there is
another homophonic connection in China. The Mandarin word for fish (yu) sounds
like the word for surplus, which means more or extra.
So,
fish also symbolizes wealth. As a New Year's dish, it is often steamed with
ginger and soy sauce and topped with greens, like cilantro and spring onions.
But
do not eat all of the fish. To be especially lucky, there should be some left for
a meal the next day. That suggests your riches will continue throughout the new
year.
A vendor carries cooked fish for sale at a Chinese market during the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. Chinese New Year falls on Feb. 16 this year, marking the start of the Year of the Dog. (Photo of AP)
By VOA