Lunar New Year is right around the corner, so it seems almost serendipitous that we’re partnering with you and America’s Test Kitchen to promote it. For those of our readers that don’t know, what is Lunar New Year?
Scientific answer: It’s the celebration of a new year based on the lunisolar calendar.
Cultural answer: It’s a time for families to get together, eat, celebrate and wish each other good health and fortune.
Food answer: It reminds me a lot of American Thanksgiving, because there’s certain food traditions we’d always follow.
Are there any foods that hold special significance during the Lunar New Year festivities? If so, what are they?
An entire book could be written about this, but I respect your time, so I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version.
The Chinese would often eat food that sounds like words of good fortune. Yes, we have a homophone-based diet. The word for “fish” sounds like the word for “surplus,” as in a surplus of money. So, we’ll eat that.
We’ll eat this black moss called “fat choy” because it sounds like the word for “prosperity.” We’d make fried crispy sesame balls, with the idea that gold and silver will “roll” into our household if we make enough.
What is your favorite recipe from the book? Or, conversely, what do you hope people take away from the book?
Choosing one favorite dish? It’s like choosing a favorite song—sometimes you want jazz, sometimes you want a headbanger. It’s situational. If pressed for one, I could eat the fried rice in the book every single day.
What I want folks to take away is that cooking Chinese food is less intimidating, more healthful, and way tastier than they could ever imagine.
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