Recipes for Celebrating Chinese New Year
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with these good-luck recipes.
Lunar Landing
Fifteen days of dancing dragons, crackling fireworks and fabulous feasts–the Lunar New Year festival is indeed a welcome distraction in the darkest days of a Canadian winter. Here on Vancouver Island there’s a growing interest in and (ahem) appetite for this ancient Asian celebration which begins on February 5, 2019. Here’s what you need to know to enjoy a meaningful—and delicious—celebration.
A Little History
Lunar New Year dates back centuries to the Shang Dynasty that ruled a large area of China between 1766 BCE and 1122 BCE. China had a strong agrarian culture and the spring festival was a time for planning prosperous crops and pausing to celebrate renewal. During the festival, every ceremony and ritual dish is layered with symbol and superstition associated with good luck, prosperity, fertility and abundance. Many rituals are intended to ward off evil spirits and avoid bad luck.
While Lunar New Year is celebrated in different ways by Vancouver Island’s diverse Asian population, the Chinese New Year festivities are perhaps the most familiar. The first Chinese immigrants, mostly Cantonese, arrived in 1858 to work the Fraser Valley gold rush. They landed in Victoria and some stayed to farm; others settled near Cumberland and Nanaimo to work in the local mines. In the 1890s, Cumberland’s Chinatown was the largest north of San Francisco and when the local mines closed in the 1930s, Victoria’s Chinatown took over that title.
Today, Victoria’s Chinatown is the oldest in Canada and recognised as a National Historic Site with many of its original buildings and vibrant cultural life still intact.
It’s About Family
Although today’s celebrations include many fun and lively community-based events, Lunar New Year was traditionally a home-and-hearth celebration with a strong family focus. The festival is a time for family reunions, and always kicks off with celebratory feasting. Historically, families prepared meals together, often under the watchful eye of the Kitchen God. Dishes were carefully chosen and prepared before they filled the table in an elaborate display that was offered first to departed ancestors to honour their souls and protect them from evil spirits.
Where to Feast
Don Mee, in the heart of Victoria’s Chinatown, is a popular choice with plenty of experience serving up Chinese New Year’s feasts in their 94 years in business. For information on events around the Island, visit the Edible Vancouver Island website or the Downtown Victoria Business Association.
Home Celebrations
Design your menu to include a selection of traditional lucky dishes (see suggestions below) and make your way to a Fairway Market location (Greater Victoria and Nanaimo) to find the largest selection of celebratory ingredients and prepared foods. Or take a guided food tour with Chef Heidi Fink to explore ingredients from the many shops in Chinatown and enjoy a few tastings along the way!
Popular Chinese New Year Good Luck Dishes
Following are some recommendations from Don Mee Executive Chef, Wing-Cheong Chow; Fairway Market’s Jennifer Loo and Chinatown Representative, Charlayne Thornton-Joe:
Vegetarian
Mixed vegetables – Symbolize family harmony
Lettuce dishes – Translation shēngcài [shen kye] sounds like shēng cái meaning “to make money”
Spring Rolls – Appearance like gold bars symbolizes wealth
Meat Dishes
Whole Fish – Served head to tail to symbolize increased prosperity
Whole Chicken – Served head to tail to symbolize unity, sharing joy and good marriage between families
Whole prawns – Translation “Ha” symbolizes much laughter in the New Year
Noodles, Rice & Sweets
Noodles – Symbolize longevity
Dumplings – Appearance like ancient gold ingots symbolizes wealth and togetherness
Sticky Rice - Unity
Rice dumpling dessert – Symbolize family togetherness
Sticky Cake – Nián gāo [nin gow] sounds like nián nián gāoshēng [nin nin gowsheng], the phrase meaning “raised higher each year” which symbolizes positives such as work promotions, prosperity, and growing children.
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