Celebrating Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year
The happiest moments are when families reunite
and enjoy delicious food together.

As the New Year approaches,
the streets of Hong Kong become livelier than usual.
Every household starts preparing for the festive shopping.

The New Year shopping list is incomplete without delicacies, sweets, pastries, and snacks...
Some may wonder,
what do people in Hong Kong eat for the New Year?

Cantonese cuisine, one of the four major Chinese cuisines,
is renowned for its fresh and delicate flavors.
Hong Kong's New Year’s Eve dinner is even more exquisite

Emphasizing "Good Fortune"
Poon Choi (Big Bowl Feast) originated in the walled villages of Hong Kong's New Territories
and is a unique dish of Hong Kong.
Different families place a variety of ingredients into one large pot and share it together,
symbolizing family reunion and abundance.

During the Lunar New Year, locals enjoy Poon Choi made with a rich array of ingredients,
including pork, dried bean curd sticks, radish,
and luxurious delicacies like dried oysters (homophonic with "good business")
and abalone, representing prosperity and abundance.

The preparation of Poon Choi is meticulous.
Each ingredient is cooked separately to ensure it is flavorful,
then layered into the pot in a specific order.
Finally, it is slow-cooked with a rich sauce and served at the table.
It is enjoyed over a small stove, allowing it to simmer while being eaten。

In Cantonese, the word "Fat Choi" sounds like "Prosperity",
and its auspicious meaning is self-evident.

However, Fat Choi is not actually a vegetable—
it is a type of algae.

Locals typically cook it together with other symbolic ingredients,
such as dried oysters (signifying "good business"), shiitake mushrooms, and pig's tongue.

These ingredients come together to create the popular New Year dish "Fat Choi Ho See",
which symbolizes prosperity and good fortune.

• Want success at work, academic progress, or to grow tall quickly?
• Then you must eat nian gao (New Year Cake), symbolizing "rising higher year after year," during the Lunar New Year.
• In some regions, savory versions of nian gao are more popular,
• but in Hong Kong, sweet nian gao made with brown sugar and garnished with red dates is favored.

In recent years, innovative new-style nian gao has incorporated other auspicious ingredients,
such as tangerines, Pu'er tea, red beans, and brown sugar.

Although "Yau Gok" (Fried Dumplings) may look similar to regular dumplings,
it is a unique New Year snack in Guangdong.

Made with glutinous rice for the outer shell,
the savory version is filled with pork or shiitake mushrooms,
while the sweet version is stuffed with ingredients like peanuts or coconut.

Once deep-fried, they become golden and plump, resembling ancient gold ingots.

Eating a Yau Gok during the New Year symbolizes a year of prosperity,
with wealth overflowing like a full treasure chest.

On the New Year dining table of Hong Kong families,
you will often find dishes rich in symbolic meanings, such as:

• Steamed fish, symbolizing "abundance year after year"
• Blanched prawns, representing joy and laughter ("smiling happily")
• Braised pork knuckles in red fermented bean curd, signifying wealth and fortune ("sudden fortune at hand")

For countless Hong Kong people,
these traditional festive dishes not only carry the most heartfelt wishes,
such as "family reunion,"
but also evoke a deep sense of nostalgia.

The bittersweet flavors of life accumulated over the years
are savored and reflected upon in the joyous indulgence of these meals.