Introduction: Diet is a very important cultural component in China, and different regions have their own dietary customs. The New Year's Eve dinner is of course different everywhere. So, how do people across the country welcome the New Year? Let's take a look with the editor.
To learn more about New Year's Eve dinner recipes, we recommend the special feature: "Flavorful Family Banquet".
Huainan
Drinking "Yuanbao Tea" during the Spring Festival is one of the Han Chinese customs for drinking tea during this time. Literally, it is not difficult to understand; it carries the meaning of "wealth" and "fortune." To this day, people in Shanghai still keep the custom of drinking "Yuanbao Tea," placing one or two olives in their teacups on the first day of the lunar new year, calling it "Yuanbao Tea." In the past, waiters in teahouses would also say auspicious words for good luck: "Drink the Yuanbao tea, and you will earn 'Yuanbao' (ingots) all year round." After hearing this, tea customers would be very pleased and pay double for the tea.
Why put olives in the tea? It is said that in the past, people used olives cleverly to relieve the greasiness after a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, because they have the effects of clearing heat, promoting fluid production, moistening the lungs, relieving the throat, aiding digestion, resolving phlegm, and restoring physical strength. So, they began to steep them in tea, and the practice became widely popular.
Nowadays, in the Jiangnan region, especially in Shanghai, they use "Yuanbao Tea" to entertain friends and relatives who visit for New Year's greetings. They put in olives, and sometimes add one or two kumquats, symbolizing "wishing you prosperity and wealth."
Hunan
People in various southern regions have the custom of eating rice cakes during the New Year, but perhaps the most unique is Hunan's spicy stir-fried rice cakes. Unlike the sweet brown sugar or coconut milk rice cakes, the rice cakes eaten by Hunan people during the New Year are generally savory. They are also different from the radish cakes often eaten by Cantonese people; the rice cakes themselves do not contain various ingredients like dried shrimp, diced cured meat, or diced taro. The basic ingredient is the original savory rice cake, stir-fried in a wok with chili and fermented black beans, which is the flavor that Hunan people prefer.
In fact, stir-frying is the most common cooking method in Hunan cuisine and best reveals its essence. Chili sauce, soy sauce, and fermented black beans are the most commonly used seasonings, paired with various dishes. On the New Year's Eve dinner table, spicy stir-fried rice cakes is also a simple and typical Hunan dish, and its meaning is enriched. It not only implies "rising higher year by year" but also signifies a good omen of prosperity and vitality.
Northeast China
Once, a song by Xuecun that became popular all over the country introduced many people to Northeast China's braised pork with noodles. In fact, braised pork with noodles is also one of the main dishes in the Northeastern New Year's feast. The noodles used are made from potato starch, a specialty of the Northeast, and the dish is filled with a rich aroma and warmth.
In addition, "Suancai Cai (pickled cabbage) stewed with pork blood sausage" is also essential. Pickled cabbage is as important to Northeasterners as cured meats are to Hunanese people. In winter, the way to preserve cabbage is to pickle it sour. It is stewed with pork belly and the Northeast's most commonly eaten blood sausage over a high flame. It can be served with rice, or with less salt, eaten as a meal itself.
Of course, besides these main dishes, "braised chicken with mushrooms" is one of the favorite main courses for Northeasterners. The skits by Zhao Ben have already shown the Chinese people how to make this dish. It uses a free-range chicken that has grown on grains and insects, resulting in a rich and mellow flavor; the mushrooms are hazel mushrooms from the Changbai Mountains, which become more fragrant the longer they are stewed.
During the Spring Festival, eating steaming hot stews while listening to "Errenzhuan" (a type of folk performance), Northeastern people have a rich New Year, but it is always simple and down-to-earth.
Sichuan
Even if Sichuanese people are not at home for the New Year, they usually receive homemade Chinese sausages from their hometown. In their New Year's Eve dinner, they can do without chicken, duck, or fish, but they cannot do without Sichuan-style sausages. Unlike the sausages in Huainan and Guangdong, the essential sausages for the New Year in Sichuan are mostly spicy and numbing.
In terms of preparation, it is quite different from other places. They buy pork, cut it into cubes, and place it in a basin. Then they add seasonings like Sichuan peppercorn powder, chili powder, salt, MSG, sugar, and white liquor. It is marinated for 4-6 hours for the flavor to penetrate the meat. Then, the sausage casings are cleaned, one end is tied, and the meat cubes are stuffed into the casing. Every 10 centimeters, a knot is tied with hemp rope, and this is repeated until the casing is full. Finally, the finished Sichuan-style sausages are hung in a ventilated place. After about 7 days, they can be steamed or boiled. The biggest difference lies in the seasoning; the spicy and numbing flavor is its essence.
Hubei
On New Year's Eve, the Hubei people's "San Quan" (Three Wholes) feast is quite elaborate. For the New Year's Eve dinner, they generally use "San Quan," which means a whole chicken, a whole fish, and a whole duck. They also need "San Gao" (Three Cakes)—fish cake, meat cake, and lamb cake—and "San Wan" (Three Balls)—fish ball, meat ball, and lotus root ball. In recent years, to prevent the dishes from getting cold, Hubei people have the habit of placing a hot pot on the dinner table, which is steaming hot and adds to the festive atmosphere.
Chicken is not a novel dish on the New Year's Eve dinner table, but the Hubei people have their own unique customs. For example, they are accustomed to drinking chicken soup on the first meal of the New Year, which symbolizes "peace and safety." Which part of the chicken is eaten by whom is also very particular. It is said that the main laborers in the family should eat the chicken feet, meaning they can "grab wealth" in the coming year. Young students should eat the chicken wings, signifying they can "soar high." The rest of the family should eat the chicken bones, representing "rising above others."
In addition, in the Jingzhou and Shashi areas, people must eat eggs on the first meal of the New Year. This signifies that people can live a solid and down-to-earth life in the new year, expressing the hope for "good fortune and auspiciousness." If guests visit, they must prepare several tender and smooth poached eggs, so that they can "wrap silver in gold, gold in silver, and get gold and silver" in the coming year.
Guangdong
"Fa Cai Jiu Shou" (Get Rich and Have It All) is an indispensable dish on the Cantonese New Year's Eve dinner table. It actually refers to a stew of black hair moss with oysters and pork knuckles. Nowadays, eating black hair moss is not encouraged, so lettuce is used more often. Both "black hair moss" and "lettuce" in Cantonese sound like "get rich" and "generate wealth." "Oysters" (Hao Chi) is a homophone for "good things," and "pig's trotters" (Zhu Shou) means "to have it at hand," or to get things done smoothly. Cantonese people are very particular about auspicious names and dishes.
P>"Oysters" might be unfamiliar to non-Cantonese people; they are actually dried oysters, which are highly nutritious and very popular among the older generation of Cantonese. The "pig's trotters" used here are not the general "pig's feet"; they must be the front trotters. They not only have meat, but more importantly, they symbolize good luck and the ability to get things done smoothly. Therefore, as the New Year's Eve approaches, the price of pig's trotters in the market becomes higher and higher. Many housewives and cooks will stock up on them before New Year's Eve, because by the morning of New Year's Eve, it is already difficult to find pig's trotters that are both affordable and of good quality. P>Anhui P>On the dinner table in Hefei, there is a bowl of "Ji Zhu Dou" (Chicken-Claw Beans), which means "to grab money and get rich." The head of the household must eat a chicken leg, called the "money-grabbing claw," symbolizing attracting wealth and treasures in the coming year. In Anqing, the head of the household must eat a bowl of noodles before the meal, called "qian chuan zi" (string of coins). In the Nanchang area, people must eat rice cakes, braised fish, stir-fried rice noodles, eight-treasure rice pudding, and thick congee. Their meanings are, in order: rising higher year by year, having fish (surplus) every year, a bountiful harvest of grain, rice forming strings, eight treasures bringing wealth, and abundance year after year.