Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival and Lunar New Year, is a traditional and the most important Chinese holiday. It brings families and friends together for celebrating the coming year. Therefore, most dishes served in Chinese New Year represent special meaningful new year wishes as metaphors of what people dearly want for their families, friends, and themselves in that year.
Chinese New Year is always associated with its wonderful food-sharing culture. “Sharing” in Chinese culture is way beyond the simple meaning of letting everybody have a bite of the dish. “Sharing” to us is about spreading love and joy to people we truly care and about wishing them to live to the fullest. Therefore, around Chinese New Year, we always prepare food in family-sized portion.
Speaking of Chinese New Year snacks, the most memorable and unique treat is our traditional “everything candy box.” It is, especially to people in Southern China and Hong Kong, an all-time favourite treat that existed in every household. The everything candy box is a tray filled with four to eight various custumal dried fruits and vegetables as candied winter melon and sweetened lotus seeds.
These candied dried fruits and vegetables are made in a traditional manner of Chinese confectionery. These are not easy to make. After the artisans single-handily picked the freshest and best quality ones, these fruits and vegetables need to be air-dried, cooked with rock sugar and cane sugar, and coated with powdered sugar. Each and every single one of them has a hidden auspicious meaning.*
This everything candy box contains six custumal sweets: candied kumquat (golden tangerines), candied lotus seed, candied lotus root, candied winter melon, candied coconut, and candied carrot. They represent the prosperous wishes for the upcoming New Year.
Sweet Winter Melon
Winter melon indicates growth and good health. Not to mention, its good look like jade symbolizes fullness and wealth. No wonder why so many families keep them in the house during the New Year.
Sweet Carrot
Carrot signifies longevity like Ginseng. Its orange-red colour even gives a touch of good fortune. Carrot is also a superfood which is good for your eyesight. It contains beta-carotene that helps with converting vitamin A in our body for better vision.
Sweet Coconut
The pronunciation in Mandarin Chinese for coconut is ‘’ye zi,” which “ye” means grandfather and “zi” means son. Therefore, coconut is a brilliant traditional wedding gift to the newlyweds in China because it represents the ultimate wish of passing down the family bloodlines.
Kumquat (Golden Tangerine)
Kumquat in Cantonese is literately translated as golden (kum) fortune (quat). Historically speaking, ancient Chinese people show their aspirations of having money and luck by naming the food as what they wish for. Eating Kumquat in Chinese New Year suggests the dearest aspiration of prosperity in the entire year.
Sweet Lotus Root
Lotus is highly praised in China because of its “noble and unsullied” characters and its abundance applications in Chinese medicine and food. Such as the root of Lotus, the petal-shaped holes signify open mindsets to new ideas.
Sweet Lotus Seed
Sweetened lotus seed is one of the popular traditional treats that serve to relatives and friends when they come visit. It is especially welcomed by families who wish to have more children. It is another popular traditional wedding gift because “lotus seed” in Chinese rhymes with “son continuously coming.” Moreover, the sweetness of this treat symbolizes the conjugal love of a happy marriage.
More savoury snacks for Chinese New Year…
Crispy Dumpling-shaped cookie
The Dumpling-shaped cookie is definitely one of the most beloved deep-fried snacks by Chinese people. Dumpling is an analogy of one’s wallet. Now you know why Chinese people always put a lot of stuffing in their dumplings because we want to have as much money in our wallets as possible. Last but not least, the shape of dumplings looks closely to the silver and gold ingots that were used as money in ancient China.
The “Laughing Date” Cookie Ball
Why the cookies are called a “laughing date” is because of the similar shape and size as dates(fruit) when they were handmade at home back in the old days. Also, in the process of making these cookies, a distinctive split always appears on the cookie which looks a lot like someone is cracking a big smile on the face.
Tang Yuan (Rice dumplings with sweet fillings)
The “wrapping” of rice dumplings are made with glutinous rice flour, which gives the dumplings a very special chewy texture. They are usually filled with red bean paste, crushed sesame seed paste, or crushed peanut paste. It is common to cook the rice dumplings with ginger slices, brown sugar, and water. These rice dumplings are often considered as good omens because their Chinese name ‘’tang yuan’’ implies harmony and togetherness.
Spring Rolls
Spring rolls are clearly one of the most popular appetizers around the globe. More importantly, in Chinese New Year, spring rolls resemble gold bars and are a sign of wealth and fortune. In different parts of Asia, spring rolls would be made with various kinds of wrappers and fillings.
