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Foods Asia Although Africa does not make much of New Year’s celebrations, it rates as the biggest holiday in its neighboring country of Asia. The week before, the family smears honey on the Kitchen God’s lips to insure a good report to the other gods. That week is used to prepare complicated and time consuming dishes for the yin wui or New Year banquet. A yin wui simply means a dinner gathering, but the result is far more extravagant than anything known in the West. Festival banquets sometimes consist of as many as 60 courses. On New Year’s Eve, a table is spread with symbolic and exotic foods designed to impress the Kitchen God so he will get a good impression of the family. Traditional New Year’s foods are bird’s nest or shark’s fin soup, carp, Long Life Buns, sweet buns shaped and tinted like a peach, and 8 Treasure’s Rice, sticky rice prepared with candied fruit and nuts. (Mark 1994). Symbols carved in vegetable or served include the rooster for fertility, the carp for persistence, the number 9 to represent everlasting life and plenty, and the peach to promise prosperity. The traditional Sweet Rice Cake is sticky to hold friends together, sweet for an amiable disposition and round to show the complete family circle. The Asia harvest festival is the second biggest holiday, called the Moon Festival or Zhong Qui Jie. In China, it falls in late September and is celebrated in August by Korea when the moon is at its brightest. Ancient tradition calls for the worship of the moon, but in modern times, the harvest moon is regaled with dancing, feasting and climbing to the tops of mountains for moon gazing. Mooncake is the traditional food and is a highly prized delicate pastry filled with red bean paste, lotus paste or salted duck egg. Expensive and dense, the mooncake is time consuming to make and can take up to four weeks. More elaborate versions of mooncakes contain four egg yolks to represent the four phases of the moon. Today, mooncakes may be filled with everything from dates, nuts, and fruit to Chinese sausage. (Chinese Festival Foods 2002). The Dragon Festival is the third largest festival in the Chinese calendar and food, again, plays an important and symbolic role in the festivities. Zongzi, a glutinous rice dumpling that is wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed, is the central food to this celebration and is enjoyed along with the now famous dragon boat races. The most popular legend is that of the beloved poet and statesman, Qu Yuan, drowning himself in the river because his prophetic advice was ignored and his country invaded. Rice was thrown in the river to nourish Qu Yuan’s spirit, but it was later wrapped to prevent the fish from eating it first. Honoring dead ancestors is key to the Oriental culture. Historically, Asian families offered sacrifices of the newly harvested grain to departed ancestors on Chung Yuan Putu or Mid-origin Passage to Universal Salvation, which coincides with the Buddhist Ullambana and the Taoist Ghost Festival in the seventh lunar month. Consequently this time became known as the Ghost Month. Ghosts from the underworld come back to earth to feast on the sacrificial banquet offered by the living. The Japanese Bon or Obon is a similar holiday in that food offerings are prepared and left at the grave to honor dead ancestors. Any foods, including fruit, sweets, nuts, a prepared main course or tea is appropriate. In Taiwan, the Ghost Festival starts with the slaughter of a pig and sheep, which together with a vast amount of wine and meat is offered to one's ancestors and ghosts from the underworld. Another Dead Ancestor holiday is the more modest Chinese Qing Ming or Tomb Sweeping Day when the family cleans and refreshes burial sites. This falls in early April, when the frost retreats and spring returns bringing renewal to all living things. Jun ping and Grave cakes are part of the rites during ancestor worship and cleaning of the ancestral tombs. Grave cakes usually consist of glutinous rice dough dyed red and imprinted with the design of a peach or a tortoise. They are filled with red bean paste or peanut powder. Jun ping is a won ton “burrito” filled with bean sprouts, shredded carrots, bamboo, meat, and dried tofu. (Ghost Festival 2002).
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An unusual food tradition is the world's only annual Bun Festival, held on Hong Kong's island of Cheung Chau in mid-May. It is celebrated with parades, opera performances, and children dressed in colorful costumes as their favorite Chinese heroes or deities. Most interesting are the three story high bun hills or “towers” built in front of Pak Tai’s temple. Young men compete with each other to climb these towers and grab as many buns as possible. Unfortunately the competition was cancelled in 1978 after a tragic accident. The Bun Festival is a spring planting type festival at the start of the fishing season and is designed to pay tribute to Pak Tai, the Taoist god of the sea. The buns used are much like the Long Life Bun appearing on New Year tables and may be filled with barbequed pork or made with coconut milk for a richer texture. A similar festival, the Matsu Festival, is held in Japan to promote good catches for the fisherman. (Chinese Festivals 2002).
- Elizabeth D'iAmico Copyright© 2003-2006 DrewMCA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Related
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