Chinese New Year: Dumplings, Rice Cakes And Long Life

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About 3,000 years ago, give or take a pair of decades, the chinese people began celebrating the begin of their calendar year with a joyful festival they called Lunar New Year. They cleaned their homes, welcomed relatives, bought or made fresh clothes and set off firecrackers. And there was feasting and especial offerings made to the Kitchen God for about two weeks. While you ‘d be distressed to find a two-week-long celebration anywhere these days, most families in China and in chinese communities throughout the world take a few days off when the vacation begins, one calendar month after the Winter Solstice. This year — the year of the Snake — it starts with a adult feast on New Year ‘s Eve, Feb. 9. then in many homes, after the feast is cleared, the solid family gathers to make dumplings late into the night.

There are many particular foods of the New Year, says E.N. Anderson, anthropology professor emeritus at the University of California, Riverside, and writer of The Food of China, a book about historic chinese government food policies .

long noodles are traditional, and they symbolize farseeing biography. year cakes — gluey rice formed into shapes — are besides a tradition. Peaches and smasher blossoms signal richness, he says, but one of the most crucial things to include is food, clothing and decorations that are red. crimson paper decorations line the streets, and crimson packets of money are given to children on New Year ‘s. “ Red is the color of blood and consequently life, health and military capability — the tinge of all good things in China, ” says Anderson. So citrus fruits like tangerines — the red the better — are popular, vitamin a well as dried fruits and seeds. traditionally, the modern year was the one time of year when the Chinese would eat sweets, although in holocene decades, they ‘ve adopted a more westerly diet the rest of the year, he says, including, unfortunately, our preference for boodle. And then there are the dumplings — traditionally these were made in homes in northern China, but now they ‘ve spread around the worldly concern. They are shaped like crescents or spheres, pan-fried ( kuo tieh ) or boiled ( jiaozi ). They resemble ancient chinese money, are stuffed with humble ingredients like pork and cabbage, and are said to bring luck to the family .

The wholly family gathers to chat and make the dumplings, which are eaten between midnight and 2 ante meridiem, says Grace Young, writer of Stir-Frying to the Sky ‘s Edge, a book of chinese recipes and stories, and the taiwanese food lore script The Breath of a Wok. “ There ‘s besides a custom-made to place a candied chestnut in a dumpling served to newlyweds, ” she says. “ If the newlyweds get the dumpling, it means they will be blessed with a male child. ” In The Breath of a Wok, Lijun Wang, Chinese-American generator Amy Tan ‘s sister, shares her dumpling-making memories :

“ ‘As the jiao-zi boiled it was authoritative not to remove the eyelid excessively soon, ‘ says Lijun. ‘If you did, it could mean that you ‘d lose your fortune in the come class. Sometimes we would put a coin inside one dumpling for luck. On New Year ‘s dawn, it was customary not to cook but we were always happy to eat leftover warmed jiao-zi, ‘ recalls Lijun fondly. ”

And historically, says Anderson, it good made sense to make dumplings when you wanted a little celebration but did n’t have a bunch of money or food. “ In northern China, food was pretty barely, particularly this deep in the winter. You ‘re down to what short meat and flour you ‘ve got left. You stretch the meat vitamin a far as possible, ” Anderson says. so why the Chinese raw class compulsion with wealth, farseeing life and richness ?

“ Remember, you ‘re dealing with a position where until very, very recently, starvation was the independent lawsuit of death. Getting wealth, richness and long life was what they wanted, ” Anderson says. But actually, do n’t we all want that ? Want to give dumplings a go ? Try NPR subscriber T. Susan Chang ‘s recipes .