Orient express: a new look at Chinese New Year

Vegetarian Times, Feb, 2003 by Alexandra Greeley

Western revelers may celebrate New Year's Eve with streamers, champagne and nostalgia. But traditional Chinese take their New Year celebrations far more to heart. They exclaim "Gong Xi Fa Cai"--Celebrate, Make Money. They wish each other "Xin Nian Kuai Le"--Happy New Year. And they give out red packets of lucky money, reunite with family members, present gift oranges for good fortune, ward off evil spirits with exploding firecrackers, applaud Lion Dance performers and pay respect to ancestors with prayers. "The Chinese New Year," says Jiang Jia, native of Shanghai, "is the most important festival for Chinese people, like Christmas is for Westerners." That's true wherever the billion-plus celebrants live--in China or in a Chinese community anywhere in the world.

In 2003--the Year of the Ram--February 1 escorts in the Chinese Lunar New Year 4700, a several-day period of feasting and celebration. And at the forefront of all festivities is food. As missionary Arthur Smith wrote in Chinese Characteristics in 1899, "No feast-day in any Western land ... can at all compare with Chinese New Year."

According to custom, the housewife prepares enough food for all family members--maybe even for the entire village--to eat for days. "My mother prepared a lot of food," says Su Shang-Ming, a native of Shanghai, "because she did not cook during the first three days of the New Year. She just enjoyed the festivities. She also expected guests to stop in, and you must treat them to peanuts, watermelon seeds--a platter of different snacks. She cooked enough for meals and nibbles." Helene Sze McCarthy, who grew up in a Ningpo Chinese community in Vietnam, says that observant Buddhists not only prepared extra dishes to offer to Buddha, but they also kept a strict vegetarian diet on at least the first day of the New Year.

In Southern China, such plentiful cooking is equally deep-rooted, as George Deng of Guangzhou remembers. "In the old tradition, women started cooking one month ahead for what was to be eaten during the New Year period," he says. "In the countryside, especially along the Pearl River Delta Region, we made zong zi, rice dumplings of sticky rice, and filled them with meat, mung beans or peanuts." He remembers how villagers would stoke up water tanks over wood-burning fires to cook up enough dumplings for the celebratory events. "Now, as we are modernized, we use pressure cookers," he says. And in today's household, the family preserves its abundance by stocking the refrigerator as well as acquiring insulated ice chests packed with the overflow, says Vanessa Lim, a Chinese-Malay from Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia.

The main holiday event is the dinner--a banquet in affluent households--on New Year's Eve, a time when family members reunite. "The dinner on New Year's Eve is the most important," says Jiang. "Everyone tries their best to go back to join their family for the reunion dinner no matter where they work. This reunion dinner used to be held at home and was cooked by family members, which took a long time to prepare and could be very complicated." Today, she says, many families head out to a favorite restaurant to feast.

What is on the New Year's menu? That depends on the family's roots, explains Su, because many foods served during festivities are dictated by tradition, the seasons and regionality. Fortunately, structuring an authentic and celebratory banquet requires not much more than a trip to a local Asian market. Sing Nian Kwai Lok!

Su Cai Jiao
(Vegetable Dumplings)

SERVES 6

The most common--and possibly most
popular--food in Beijing during Chinese
New Year are these dumplings. Since the
New Year falls in winter, only bok choy is
in season, so local cooks mix it with dry
mushrooms and bamboo shoots, and
serve the dumplings with black vinegar
and fresh garlic. Traditionally, the cook will
slip a bright, new coin into the center of a
selected dumpling so the lucky eater will
find some good fortune. The correct way
to eat these dumplings is to poke a small
hole in their centers with chopsticks so
that the dipping sauce can seep inside.
Look for preserved cabbage and squares
of fried tofu at your local Asian market.

4 oz. dried Chinese mushrooms
2 oz. bamboo shoots
2 oz. peeled jicama
10 oz. bok choy
1 oz. preserved cabbage
1 oz. fried tofu, diced
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch white pepper
1 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. vegetable oil
30 wonton wrappers
1 large egg, beaten
1 Tbs. minced garlic
6 Tbs. black vinegar

1. Soak dried mushrooms in water for about 30 minutes, or until they soften. Squeeze out water, and dice.

2. Cut all vegetables into small dice, and press under weights for several hours to squeeze out all liquid. Mix dry vegetables with tofu, salt, pepper, sugar and oils.

3. To make dumplings, place each wrapper on flat surface, spoon about 1 teaspoon filling into center and fold dough over in half. Moisten edges of each wrapper with beaten egg, and pinch shut to seal in filling. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling until used up.