2.15.2010

Special plan: Chinese Spring Festival Part One: Tranditional Food


For China, the most important holiday in the year is Spring Festival, the importance of Chinese New Year of the importance is same importance of Christmas here. Spring Festival is a family reunion, bid farewell to the past year and welcome to the New Year. So the Spring Festival also called Chinese New Year. In Chinese tradition, there are 12 animals to rotate on behalf of each year, their order is the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. 2010 is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese tradition.

During the Spring Festival the most important is jubilant and reunion, all the members of family together and traditional food is essential the Chinese New Year foods are also very particular. China's vast territory, large population, people of different regions have their own particular favorite dishes cuisine and variety, but the dumplings, glutinous rice balls, rice cakes and rice dumplings are all in the common New Year customs.


Gyoza

Gyoza is a long history of Chinese New Year food. According to expert research, at the latest when the Northern Qi Dynasty Five Dynasties and Ten States, there is already exist Gyoza. Gyoza means that good luck for next year.


New Year cake

New Year cake is a national food, because "cake" and "high" are the same pronunciation in Chinese. Chinese eat New Year cake because it has a mid-rise in auspicious meanings. Rice cake is said to be used as Ritual and the first ancestors, and later became a Chinese New Year food. Almost every region in China eat New Year cake, many with glutinous rice flour made of many styles, such as the northern-based cake with sweet, steamed or fried, it has simply stick candy; southern cake with salty and sweet, such as Suzhou and Ningbo cakes to regular rice production, light taste. Guangdong and southern Fujian love with glutinous rice flour is added sugar or brown sugar, lard, plus roses, laurel, mint, Su Rong and other ingredients, can eat steamed or fried egg white coat.

Dumplings

Because dumplings "flutter" in the bowl, like a bright moon hanging in the sky, a symbol of auspicious meaning of reunion, mainly southerners favorite New Year food. Glutinous rice flour in the bag with red bean paste, nuts or meat, etc.. In the ancient region of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the package is also popular in the rice balls a little money, who eat, who have "good luck." Many areas are popular to eat glutinous rice balls, rice balls, Ningbo and Chengdu but the most famous dumpling.


Tzung Tzu
China has a vast territory, some areas have the habit of the Chinese New Year eating dumplings, symbolizing the "sufficient food every day, but each has surplus" means. Fourth day before the Spring Festival in many areas, are the first few days of good eating: the Northern Great eat more bread, then eat southern cooking and a good year, "Chen Rice," called "surplus years", meaning that every year bumper harvest, but each has surplus grain.






1 comments:

Gar said...

the whiteballs are delicious.