The holidays are the time of year where people gather with their family and enjoy plenty of delicious foods. This especially applies to the Chinese New Year, where the meals are believed to be the most sacred meal of the year.
During the Chinese New Year, the people who celebrate the holiday prepare foods that symbolize something in the upcoming year.
For example, according to the Reno-Gazette Journal, noodles will be served at dinner to symbolize a long life. Clams are consumed for wealth, since they resemble coins, and fish will be made for prosperity.
It is also a tradition to serve dumplings, New Year Cake, Tang Yuan, and LaBa Congee at a Chinese New Year dinner.
Dumplings, also called Jiaozi, are meats and/or vegetables wrapped in dough that can be steamed or fried. When the dining hall serves Chinese food for lunch, you can find fried dumplings to the side of the bar, and then dip them in some soy sauce for extra flavor.
Commonly found in Eastern China, New Year Cake, also called rice cake or nian gao, is made of rice flour and sugar. This cake is also eaten for good luck in the New Year.
Tang Yuan is also made from rice flour. The flour is mixed with water to make the dish into a spherical shape, which is then boiled. They can be filled with a sweet substance or left empty.
LaBa Congee is a dessert porridge that combines rice, nuts, beans, and dried fruits. This dish is served on the eighth day of the last month, which is the day of the LaBa Festival.
If you are planning on celebrating the Chinese New Year, call some of these local Chinese restaurants and order their tasty foods: Fortune Cookie, Peking Garden, China King, Super Panda, Yen’s Chinese Restaurant, and Szechuan Garden.