Some foods we eat only during Lunar New Year because they take a lot of effort to make, hence made only for the most important festival of the year. Some because the ingredients are available during winter. Some for mysterious or mundane reasons that no one remembers. I love turnip cake. This year we were able to taste many different kinds: high quality hotel-made; tasty home-made fresh from the steamer; vegetarian with home-grown turnips, … We feel truly blessed.
Some because they are so rich, sweet and fattening that we are allowed to have them during the festival. Such as sugar coated lotus seeds, sliced lotus roots, coconut strips, coconut chunks, kumquats, …
Some are really not particularly tasty, but I suspect they were eaten at times when food were in short supply and people remember them fondly, and the habit just stay. Such as 芽姑 (茨菰, 慈姑, arrowhead). It is supposed to have some medicinal functions. Perhaps that is why people eat them. We ususlly eat them together with air-dried meat: pork bellies, duck, meat sausages, liver sausages, … They more than make up for the blandness of 慈姑, so I do not mind. In fact, I enjoy the fond associations that they bring up.
Something called 芋蝦 (literally taro shrimp). It is basically a deep fried ball of taro strips. There does not seem to be any shrimp in it; nor does it look or taste like shrimp. It does taste quite good though, but a bit oily.
And to me, a new way to eat New Year Cake (年糕). Usually we dip thick slices of the sweer cake into a batter made of a beaten egg and then fry them lightly, so that the cake does not stick to the pan. Now people wrap the cake slice in a aon ton wrapper and fiy them as usual. The cake does not stick and the wrapper is crispy. A great idea.
There are so many good eats at Lunar New Year. I love it.
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