A big part of celebrating Lunar New Year arriving on February 1st this year, involves eating.
What foods must be eaten? Lucky foods, of course.
In my recent Lunar New Year presentations, my audience are often at a loss for words imagining lucky foods. There seems to be a missing food group in their minds when I mention lucky foods.
Many cultures celebrate with special foods. Before psychology became a field of study, people celebrated with simple foods that evoked joyful and grateful emotional connection.
According to Simplemost.com’s “Here’s Why People Eat Collard Greens And Black-Eyed Peas For New Year’s”, Tricia Goss cites that eating black-eyed peas comes from a tradition as old as Rosh Hashanah celebrated in 500 A.D. In the South, there is a tradition in celebrating new year’s with lucky foods such as black-eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread. These foods by their respective colors represent, good luck, money and prosperity, and wealth and gold.
Southern Living Magazine also reports in “Why We Eat Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens on New Year’s” that “black-eyed peas are associated with a ‘mystical and mythical power to bring good luck.’”
Similarly, Chinese lunar new year foods are full of color associations, puns, and flavors that bring sweetness to the new year.
For instance, kumquats（金橘) being golden orange brings good luck in forms of gold and sweetness. While the Chinese didn’t know about Vitamin C before it was discovered, the practice of eating them coincidentally brought people to have additional faith in its healthy purpose.
In Northern parts where citrus fruits cannot grow, walnuts （hé táo, 核桃）, sounding like hé（合) in “harmony” or “cooperation” and apples (píng gǔo, 蘋果), sounding like peace (平) and/or safety (平安) are featured as festival foods. Walnuts (hé) and apples (píng) together create a rebus puzzle for “peace”, as in world peace, (hé píng和平).
According to Gastro Obscura’s The Language of Lucky Foods, Annie Ewbank mentions “Cabbage (bái cài, 白菜), only approximates the pronunciation of bǎi cái (百財, “many riches”). Similarly, bean curd (dòu fu, 豆腐) is a play on dōu fú (都福), or “good fortune for all.””
Desserts aren’t a daily part of Chinese meals. However, for Lunar New Year there is an array of desserts that guarantee sweetness, promotions, and growth for the year.
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Before celebrations meant a costly affair, our ancestors celebrated graciously with simple foods like black-eyed peas, collard greens, tofu and cabbage.
