Chinese New Year Food Ideas and Symbolisms

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. Have you started with the preparations already? 

To be honest, my family and I prepare more during the Chinese (Lunar) New Year compared to the traditional/ western calendar new year every January 1st. This is because feng shui, a traditional practice that uses energy forces to arrange the pieces in the living space to create balance and harmony between individuals with the natural world and their surroundings, follows the lunar calendar. Thus, the forecasts by feng shui masters actually start during CNY and are applicable during this time as well. 

Filipinos, even those who are not Chinese, have been celebrating the Chinese New Year for a long time. In fact, it has already been declared as a special non-working holiday every year here in the Philippines. 

A lot of beliefs and rituals believed to bring luck and good fortune every New Year is followed by many such as house cleaning, wearing red clothes, giving out red envelopes/ Hong Bao, etc. with the hopes of gaining good fortune and having an auspicious year.  

One of the important things that we prepare during the Chinese New Year's celebration is food. The Chinese New Year Eve's dinner is actually considered the most important meal of the year. In China, family members would see to it that they get to go home and be with their families during the celebration.

Here are some food ideas that you can prepare for the upcoming Chinese New Year:

• Noodles for good health and longevity
• Round cake or round sweets for continuous prosperity and promotions.
• Whole pork dish (e.g. Patatim, Ham, Lechon Belly) for bountiful blessings (Make sure that ham is not sliced)
• Sweet Sticky Rice (e.g. biko, palitaw, bochi, tikoy) for abundance and good luck
• Seafood (except lobster or crabs) for happiness.
• Dumplings (siomai, lumpia shanghai) for wealth
• Fish (must be served whole and with scales, e.g. bangus or lapu-lapu) for prosperity
• Green salad/ vegetables for money
• Good fortune fruits (e.g. oranges, pomelos, tangerines) for fullness and wealth

Now the big question is - when do you prepare and eat this? As mentioned earlier, Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is the most important meal of the year. Thus, you prepare and enjoy this feast the day before the Chinese New Year. Thus, for 2023, it will be on January 21. 

Each family member is expected to have some of every dish EXCEPT the fish to signify that they will have a remainder, savings, or surplus for the year.  

Anyway, that's it for now. We hope that we are able to help you with your CNY preparations. Whether this is true or not, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try as we have nothing to lose in enjoying a bountiful meal with our families.