February 2, 2009 1:31 pm

Lucky Eats: Special Chinese New Year Foods

The Chinese Lunar calendar officially rang in the Year of the Ox on January 26, 2009—but if you missed this New Year's Eve celebration, not to worry, the party goes on well in to 2009. And along with the fireworks, street festivals, red and gold decorations and dress, there's abundant, incredible vittles and eats.

Traditionally, the Chinese New Year celebration lasts for 15 days, starting with a large, family-sacred reunion dinner held on the Lunar New Year's Eve where family members near and far come together and celebrate. Lucky red envelopes or "red packets" filled with money and other gifts are passed out to chase away unfortunate spirits, and a huge feast is prepared. Most dishes served are highly symbolic and meaningful, specifically cooked to inspire wealth, health, happiness and good fortune. Most dishes are chosen based on homonyms (words that are spelled the same or sound like other words) and have lucky meanings. Here's a sampling of delicious, lucky dishes that will help shepherd in the perfect new year.

Steamed Sea Bass or Red Snapper: Fish (yu), particularly cooked and served whole, symbolizes happiness and prosperity, and sounds like the Chinese word meaning "surplus".

Buddha's Delight: Classic vegetarian dish traditional enjoyed by Buddhist monks, typically served New Years Eve and following day to pay homage to their self-purification practice. "Fat choy" are rare, black hair-like algae considered a special ingredient because it sounds like "prosperity".

Spring or egg rolls: These tasty fried treats symbolize wealth simply because they look like bars of gold.

Lettuce wraps:Because the Cantonese word for lettuce sounds like "rising fortune," these little pouches are often filled with other lucky foods (chicken, cashews or dried oyster meat).

Tea Leaf Eggs: With a distinctive "marbled" look, these eggs symbolize fertility.

Turnip cakes: Turnips (cai tou) mean "good luck" and a staple at most Chinese New Year meals. You can find these bread-like goodies year-around in most dim sum restaurants.

Peking Roasted Duck: Made world-famous by the old Quan Ju De restaurant in Peking (Beijing). Like eggs, duck symbolizes fertility.

Longevity Noodles: Represent longevity and long life, considered very unlucky to cut them!

Mandarin oranges or tangerines: China's most abundant fruit, the jin ju literally means "golden luck" or "gold and fortune" and thus are passed out frequently throughout the New Year celebration.

The Year of the Ox celebration officially wraps February 10, 2009. If you haven't eaten abundant lucky Chinese dishes, make a date at your favorite restaurant or check out local street fairs and markets near you and prepare a prosperous dinner feast. Make your party extra lucky with traditional goodies—you can find classic "red packets" along with noodles, fortune cookies, sweets, flowers and food items for sale in Chinatowns in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, among other US cities.

—Mona Buehler

— Written by Mona Buehler

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