Eat your way to good fortune
What does a pineapple have in common with a shark’s fin, fried crab claw, and round fruits? If you say they all usher in good luck, you’re right. These are just some of the foods the Chinese prepare for the New Year.
It’s always interesting to look at some of the New Year food traditions around the globe that are believed to bring happiness, health and prosperity to those who practice them.
The sticky rice cakes, for example, are ubiquitous across Asia. While many Koreans say these make good luck stick, the Chinese believe that serving neen gow cakes keeps the family together. But Filipinos think otherwise. The sticky tikoy is offered to seal the Kitchen God’s mouth so he can’t report the family’s misdeeds to the higher gods.
Thirteen kinds of round fruits, which symbolize gold coins, are also a must on Pinoys’ dining tables for wealth and abundance.
New Year’s Eve revelers in Spain consume 12 pieces of grapes (representing the 12 months of the year) at midnight. So if, for instance, the third grape is a bit sour, March might be a rocky month. Some insist on taking the 13th grape for good measure.
The Americans, on the other hand, believe that eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Eve will bring luck for the coming year. Cooked greens are likewise consumed because the green leaves look like folded money.
The Chinese, of course, are the biggest believers in lucky food traditions. And so, with the arrival of the Year of the Ox on Jan. 25, expect dishes, which are symbolic of happiness, prosperity, and good fortune to overflow on the streets (especially of Chinatown), Chinese deli counters, restaurants, and hotels here and around the world.
Mandarin Oriental, Manila continues its much-anticipated Chinese New Year tradition as chef Hann Furn Chen of Tin Hau whips up Year of the Ox dishes to usher in luck for the coming year.
Lucky food items for the Chinese include dishes with names that sound like good luck, wealth or abundance. One good example is the pineapple or ong lai in Fookien. Ong is luck while lai means come. This explains why Chinese households have pineapple paper lanterns hanging on their main door. It’s like welcoming luck into their homes.
“Sometimes it is based on appearance,” explains Ernest Lau, F&B manager of Tin Hau. “Noodles, for example, represent long life while serving a whole chicken symbolizes family togetherness.”
In other countries like the Philippines, eating chicken on New Year’s Eve is discouraged because the fowl scratches backward as it searches for food. As the popular Filipino saying goes: Isang kahig, isang tuka.
Mandarin Oriental, Manila welcomes the dawn of a new lunar year — the Year of the Yin Earth Ox — with these lucky dishes to ensure an auspicious beginning.
Tin Hau five happiness combination platter. This barbecue combination of roast duck, chicken, pork, Peking duck, suckling pig, century egg, and jellyfish is a symbol of a bountiful harvest for the coming year. “For most Chinese families, serving heavy and oily food items brings good luck as these will make you full all year round,” notes Lau. The combination of different ingredients also symbolizes the gathering of friends and relatives for the Lunar New Year.
Old Beijing nobleman’s braised shark’s fin with dried scallops and fish maw soup. Shark’s fin is a traditional Chinese delicacy served only on special occasions, as getting a shark’s fin was very difficult in the olden times. “In the Chinese language, the words fish and profit are homophonic — they sound the same. Eating fish during Chinese New Year means more profit for the coming year.”
Deep-fried dragon beard claw stuffed with shrimp mousse. This dish tastes heavenly. The crab claw is covered with katafi (a wheat dough similar to shredded wheat used for pastries in Middle Eastern cuisines) smothered with XO sauce with minced ripe mangoes, sautéed scallops and shrimps. What makes this dish auspicious is the cooking method. “Deep-frying symbolizes gold in Chinese. Serving this golden deep-fried dish evokes abundant wealth for the coming year.”
Steamed white seabass fillet with rainbow vegetables in celery sauce. The Chinese don’t just settle on delicious food, they also give importance to its color. Green, for instance, is an auspicious color for 2009.
Two ways chicken. A chicken dish is a staple during Chinese New Year as eating chicken is considered healthy.
Chef Chen showed us two ways to savor chicken by separating the skin from the meat. We just couldn’t get our forks off the savory chicken slices in kung pao sauce, and the air-dried chicken skin stuffed with shrimp mousse.
Pan-fried US beef rib eye with enoki mushroom and steak sauce. Chef Chen didn’t tell us the significance of this dish but it sure tastes yummy – a must in Chinese banquet.
Mandarin steamed assorted vegetables and sea conch in brown sauce. This healthy medley of asparagus, mushrooms, bakchoy, sea conch, and bamboo pith symbolizes growth and expansion.
Fragrant rice with Chinese sausage, wax duck and pork belly. Eating rice is to bring forth abundant wealth.
Chinese New Year special dessert platter. The chilled jello of lemongrass with lime sorbet, sweetened glutinous rice balls with red dates and Osmanthus syrup, and tikoy symbolize family togetherness.
Available from Jan. 25 to 28, the Chinese New Year’s Fortune Set Menu is offered at P1,388 per person (good for five to seven persons) at Tin Hau, Mandarin Oriental, Manila .
On Jan. 26, at 12 a.m. , Tin Hau offers the Chinese New Year’s Eve Buffet at the Ballroom for only P1,788++ for adults and P1,088++ for kids inclusive of a copy of the 2009 Year of the Earth Ox Forecast written by Joseph Chau. The comprehensive primer will also be sold at the hotel’s Lobby Shop and Deli for P398.
Ring in the new year with meals that will make your hopes and wishes for Year of the Yin Earth Ox come true.
For reservations, call 750-8888 or visit www.mandarinoriental.com.
