On February 7, 2008, the Year of the Rat begins — a year numbered 4706 on the Chinese lunar calendar. The holiday ushers in a 10-day period when families and friends exchange token gifts, give children red envelopes with "pocket money", and reunite over extravagant feasts.

Chinese New Years is celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese all over the world. There are large Chinese populations in Korea,  Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Peru, Brazil, Australia, London, San Francisco in California and Chinese New Year is celebrated, by the overseas Chinese. 

Prior to New Year's Day, Chinese families decorate their living rooms with vases of pretty blossoms, platters of oranges and tangerines and a candy tray with eight varieties of dried sweet fruit.

On walls and doors are poetic couplets, happy wishes written on red paper. These messages sound better than the typical fortune cookie messages. For instance, "May you enjoy continuous good health" and "May the Star of Happiness, the Star of Wealth and the Star of Longevity shine on you" are especially positive couplets.

Given the importance of food in Chinese culture, it is not surprising that food plays a major role in Chinese New Year celebrations. "Lucky" foods are served through the two week Chinese New Year celebration, also called the Spring festival.

Tradition dictates that an even number of courses — often 8, 10 or 12 — be served at the meal, because multiples of two represent double happiness and fortune. Nearly every dish on the table, and nearly every ingredient in each dish, is loaded with meaning.

It is custom for all to stir the first dish ingredients together.

Combination Cold Appetizer Platter of jelly fish, jellied meats, baby octipus, etc.

Lobster with ginger and scallions

Seafood in Fried Taro Basket

Prawn, brocolli, and candied walnuts

Symbolic Chinese Foods

Pictured: Stir-fried nian gao. This is the the quintessential Chinese New Year's dish. There are many forms of "gao," which is a gelatinous cake made from pounded glutinous rice. This version is usually rolled into logs and then sliced on a bias. Most commonly, it's stir-fried with savories and meats (here, I believe pork, Napa cabbage and ginger). A bit of water is added to aid in making a starchy sauce that naturally comes from the gao during cooking. The Chinese also have sweet versions/preparations for gao. It's called "nian (year) gao" during the New Year celebration. 

photo by Daniel M. Shih of Taiwan

This home-made thin noodle place belongs to two Lin families since 30 more years ago.  it's an old traditional business and still survive in a small town named Lukang.

Hand-pulled noodles, called ''la mian" in Chinese, originated in Lanzhou, a city in northwest China. The technique of hand-pulling soon spread to other parts of China. There are other ways to prepare fresh noodles, including slicing sheets of dough, but hand-pulling is an advanced technique that requires years of intensive training.

What gives a certain food symbolic significance? Sometimes it is based on appearance. For example, serving a whole chicken during the Chinese New Year season symbolizes family togetherness. Noodles represent a long life; an old superstition says that it's bad luck to cut them. Both clams and Spring Rolls symbolize wealth; clams because of their resemblance to bouillon, and Spring Rolls because their shape is similar to gold bars.

While each family has its own food traditions for the new year, most feasts include a whole fish. Because the sound "yue," or fish, is represented by the written character meaning "more than enough," the fish symbolizes togetherness and abundance. The fish is never fully eaten, signifying that the family will always have more than enough. To guarantee continuous good fortune, it’s important not to break the fish during or after cooking.

On the other hand, a food may have special significance during Chinese New Year because of the way the Chinese word for it sounds. For example, the Cantonese word for lettuce sounds like rising fortune, so it is very common to serve a lettuce wrap filled with other lucky food. Tangerines and oranges are passed out freely during Chinese New Year as the words for tangerine and orange sound like luck and wealth, respectively. And let's not forget pomelos. This large ancestor of the grapefruit signifies abundance, as the Chinese word for pomelo sounds like the word for "to have."

Fish also play a large role in festive celebrations. The word for fish, "Yu," sounds like the words both for wish and abundance. As a result, on New Year's Eve it is customary to serve a fish at the end of the evening meal, symbolizing a wish for abundance in the coming year. For added symbolism, the fish is served whole, with head and tail attached, symbolizing a good beginning and ending for the coming year.

Fish shaped dishes are very popular like this New Years cake made of rice flour, brown sugar, and water, with orange food colouring to make the Koi look real.

 Yu Sheng is unique to Singapore and Malaysia for New Years. It is made of paperthin raw fish and abalone, finely grated vegetables, candied melon and lime, red and white pickled ginger, pomelo sacs, sesame seeds, jellyfish and peanuts all tossed in sweet plum sauce dressing.  Every ingredient will be placed neatly around the hugh dish after all the guests are around the table.

 Then everyone picks up a chopstick and mixes the Yu Sheng together with a vertical arm motion. During the mixing (lo) each individual says something auspicious. It symbolises bringing of good luck and wishes in the new upcoming year. 

Besides being full of flavors and textures, yu sheng is loaded with symbolic meaning. The raw ingredients signify the renewal of life, and the sound of the word for fish in Cantonese sounds like the word for prosperity.

Yu Sheng

This is the first course of a multi course meal celebrating Chinese New Year. It is duck skin on top, then jellyfish below, then duck meat below that.

Many dishes for the new year include whole or unbroken ingredients. Chickens are presented with head and feet, and leafy greens, noodles and other ingredients are not chopped. In fact, using knives, cleavers or any sharp object during the holiday season is considered unlucky because it may cut off or divide good luck.

ingredients for hot pot

This type of chimney hot pot or steamboat usually has a charcoal fire in the bottom.  We love making hot pot and everyone cooks their own meal.  There are various sauces so you can get the taste you like.  You usually cook the meats and fish first, then veggies, and finally noodles for a wonderful soup to finish.

On the last night of the New Year festivities, many families serve Fire Pot, a fondue-style meal where participants dip assorted meats, seafood, mushrooms, and noodles in a rich broth bubbling in a large pot on the table. Each simmering ingredient carries a special meaning.

Singapore Noodles

 Long noodles represent long life. "Hao," or oysters, sounds like the word for "an auspicious occasion or event" and symbolize receptivity to good fortune. Lettuce, or "sang choi," symbolizes prosperity because its name sounds like the word meaning "to bring about wealth and riches."

Do sa bao, or commonly known as "red bean paste"-filled buns are another New Years favourite.

Dumplings, which represent wealth, are always a treat. People often get together before the new year to prepare dumplings — which becomes a party in itself — so no one has to work over the holidays. Chinese work hard all year long, and once a year, they take some time off just to enjoy and get together.

And what about the sweet, steamed cakes that are so popular during the Chinese New Year season? Cakes such as Sticky Rice Cake have symbolic significance on many levels. Their sweetness symbolizes a rich, sweet life, while the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming year. Finally, the round shape signifies family reunion.

So if you missed the fireworks and celebrations on New Year's Eve, don't worry - you'll have another chance to celebrate. Chinese New Year falls on February 7th in 2008.

Chinese braise pig's feet in soy with star anise and ginger.  This is a melt-in-your-mouth experience as the fat braises off, and leaves only the gelatinous sticky skin and tendons clinging to succulent morsels of meat between the knuckle bones.  Not a favourite of mine.  It's a texture thing I guess.  Just like Sea Cucumber which is considered a delicacy I pass it by as it feels like huge chewy chuncks of fat to me.

Soy-anise-roasted beef tendon New Years Offerings

Pops' Singapore Noodles  Ming Tsai Chinese restaurants in Europe made this noodle dish famous. It was later introduced to the US in the late 1980s. It is a very refreshing dish with fluffy, curried rice noodle mixed with meats and vegetables. Like fortune cookies and chop suey invented in the US but not found in the East, Singapore noodle is not found in Singapore.   There are dozens of noodles famous in Singapore from the street hawkers to upscale restaurants; Singapore noodle is not one of them. The lack of geographic authenticity does not detract from this wonderful dish that is easy to prepare, perks up the taste buds, and can be served as a whole meal, a snack or an appetizer. 1 pound thin rice noodles, soaked in cold water for 2 hours, and drained 1 pound baby shrimps, without shells, deveined, rinsed and drained 1 skinless chicken breast, 1/4-inch strips 1/4 cup white wine 2 tablespoons thin soy sauce 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper Canola oil, to cook 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1/2 cup scallions batons, 1-inch lengths 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 pound bean sprout, picked 1 red bell pepper, julienned 1 onion, julienned 2 eggs, lightly scrambled 2 tablespoons Madras curry powder Salt and white pepper to taste Marinate shrimp and sliced chicken together in soy sauce, wine, cornstarch and white pepper for 20 minutes. In a hot wok coated well with oil, stir fry ginger, scallions and garlic. Add marinated shrimp and chicken to oil and stir fry quickly for 30 seconds to one minute. Remove shrimp and chicken and set aside. Use same oil to stir fry bean sprouts, peppers and onions. Season and cook for 1 minute and set aside. Wipe out wok and coat well with oil. When oil is smoking hot, add 2 beaten eggs and rotate the pan so as to quickly spread the eggs into a pancake shape. While the egg is still partially fluid, add rice noodles to the wok. Stir and fold noodles and the eggs should be broken up into small pieces and dispersed uniformly. Continue to stir to avoid noodles from sticking to the pan. Add curry powder and check for seasoning. When noodles are steaming hot, add back shrimp, chicken and vegetables to the noodles and continue to mix and stir until everything is steaming hot. PLATING Serve family style on an oval platter. Sweet fried nian gao. These are cakes that are cut into large squares, dipped in flour and egg and then pan-fried. The rice cakes are sweet and gummy, and are served with Chinese red dates. Again not a favourite of mine-so chewy. 年糕 Nin gou (also known as nian gao in Mandarin) is very popular for Chinese New Years as it symbolises the bond in the family. It's sticky and sweet, which shows the togetherness in the family. Some people buy them to be given as offerings during prayers.