What are the eating customs of the Spring Festival?

As the saying goes, "Food is the most important thing for the people". As the largest traditional festival in China, the Spring Festival lasted for nearly a month, during which there were many food customs, all of which entrusted China people with good expectations for the new year. From the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household began to prepare new year's goods.

Staple food: jiaozi Geely rice cake is sweet.

Jiaozi is an important staple food for northerners in the New Year. On New Year's Eve, every family will get together to wrap jiaozi. The word "He" in the dough means "He"; Jiaozi's "jiao" and "jiao" are homophonic, and "harmony" and "jiao" have the meaning of reunion, so Jiaozi is used to symbolize reunion with Albizia, and it also means making friends at a young age, which is very prosperous. In addition, jiaozi, which is shaped like an ingot, has the auspicious meaning of "making a fortune" when eating jiaozi in the New Year.

In order to increase the atmosphere and fun of the festival, there will be many "tricks" in jiaozi on New Year's Eve: putting sugar means eating sweet Chinese New Year; Putting peanuts (that is, longevity fruit) means that people can live long after eating them; Putting coins means that whoever eats them will be "rich". In addition, on the fifth day of the first month, every household has to pack jiaozi, which is called "squeezing a dog's mouth", which means it's okay if you don't commit a dog within one year.

Homophonic "rice cake" is a necessary Spring Festival food for every family. The rice cakes in the north are mainly sweet, steamed or fried. The rice cakes in the south are sweet and salty. They are made of japonica rice and have a light taste. Eating sweet glutinous rice cakes in the New Year symbolizes the sweetness of life, the promotion of career, wealth and good fortune in the new year.

Eating "glutinous rice balls" is an important custom of the Lantern Festival. Tangyuan, also known as Tangtuan and Yuanxiao. The custom of eating glutinous rice balls began in the Song Dynasty, and became the festival food of the Lantern Festival in the early Yuan Dynasty. Today it's called Yuanxiao in the north and Tangyuan in the south. The making of Yuanxiao in the north is strange and simple, and the stuffing is dipped in powder. The advantage is that there is no crack and it is big. The disadvantage is that the stuffing is thick and rough, hard and sluggish. Jiaozi in the south is both sweet and salty, with all kinds of vegetables and meats, delicate and smooth fillings and smooth glutinous rice flour. In addition, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places also have the custom of eating glutinous rice balls on the morning of New Year's Day.

Meat dishes: there are fish every year.

Fish is an essential dish on New Year's Eve. "Fish" and "fish" are homophonic, symbolizing "good luck and wishful thinking" and also implying a happy life, which is more than enough every year. But don't eat all the fish at once, which means "wealth has fish (surplus)"

While preparing meat dishes, old Beijingers will also play with "bean paste"-cold dishes made of skin, dried tofu, soybeans, green beans and watercress, which are amber in color and similar to "aspic". In addition, there is "Mustard Dun", which is a cold dish used to accompany wine and appetizer. Because people eat a lot of greasy food in festivals, it is easy to make a fire and produce phlegm. These cold dishes can make up for this defect.

New Year's Eve dinners around the country also have many local characteristics, and often one or several kinds of food must be served on the table, which contains auspiciousness and celebration. The average family in Harbin will fry eight dishes, 10, 12 or 16. In Nanchang, Jiangxi, people generally pay attention to eight dishes and two soups. In some places in Zhejiang, the New Year's Eve dinner should be the "top ten bowls" to win the color of "complete happiness". There is a custom of three steamed cakes and three pills in eastern Hubei. "Three steaming" means steaming whole fish, whole duck and whole chicken; The "three cakes" are fish cakes, meat pies and sheep cakes; The "three pills" are fish pills, meatballs and lotus root pills.

Dim sum: candied haws and crispy candied haws are very appetizing.

"Twenty-three, honeydew melons are sticky, and the stove owner wants to go to heaven." In the old days, people offered sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, presented sticky sweet honeydew melons to the Kitchen God, and put them on their mouths to make him "speak well in the sky and keep peace on the ground". All the children expect is the honeydew melon after the sacrifice. "Melon" is a sticky sugar made of yellow rice and malt. The candy that is drawn into a long strip is called "Guandong Sugar", and the candy that is drawn into a flat circle is called "honeydew melon". When it is placed outside in winter, because of the cold weather, the honeydew melon is solidified firmly, and there are some tiny bubbles in it, which tastes crisp and sweet and has a special flavor.

"Miscellaneous children" is a must-eat snack in old Beijing during the Spring Festival. In old Beijing, "assorted fruit" is a mixture of various dried and fresh fruits. In the Song Dynasty, there was a "fruit box" for holding fine fruits. Liu Ruoyu, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, said in the Proceedings that in the first month of the New Year in Beijing, there was a "Pepsi Lucky Box" containing "persimmons, lychees, longan, chestnuts and ripe dates". Legend has it that Empress Dowager Cixi was very happy after eating it, and casually named it "Zazi", which spread from the court to the people and became a unique flavor food in Beijing. In ancient times, cakes used for offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, such as honey offerings and Saqima, were also essential food for Beijingers to go home in the New Year.

Sugar-coated haws are the most popular seasonal food at temple fairs in old Beijing. It is made by stringing wild fruits with bamboo sticks and dipping them in malt syrup, which quickly hardens in the wind. Sugar-coated haws were first seen in the Song Dynasty and prevailed in the Qing Dynasty. Teahouses, theaters, streets and alleys can be seen everywhere, suitable for all ages, and have the functions of appetizing, beautifying, increasing intelligence, eliminating fatigue and clearing away heat. In addition, cream fried cake, pea yellow, snowballing, aiwowo, enema and so on. It is a popular snack at the temple fair in old Beijing.

Drinks: tea soup, peach soup, Chinese New Year.

There is a folk custom of drinking Laba porridge on Laba Festival. Drinking Laba porridge has a history of thousands of years in China, and it is the remains of ancient La Worship. In order to celebrate the harvest, we should not forget the virtue of thrift. In the Qing Dynasty, this custom prevailed. In court, emperors, queens, princes, etc. Send laba porridge to civil and military ministers and attendants, and distribute rice and fruit to temples for monks to eat. Rice, red beans and red dates are indispensable in Laba porridge in the north. Others such as black rice, raisins and millet are optional.

As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, people began to drink alcohol in the New Year. It is recorded in the Book of Songs and National Style that if you call it a man, you will live forever. In ancient times, the custom of praying for longevity during the Spring Festival was very popular. "But the leaf will last for a thousand years, and the cup will last for ten thousand years." This is the blessing of the elderly. During the Chinese New Year in Han Dynasty, after the firecrackers were set off, the family members got together to drink pepper and cypress wine, so that the youngest one could drink it first and wish their parents well. The Chronicle of Jingchu in Liang Zonggu of the Southern Dynasties said: "On the first day of the first month ... it has been known throughout the ages that they are wearing their clothes. They worship each other, drink pepper and cypress wine and drink peach soup." There is also the custom of drinking "peach soup" to ward off evil spirits during the folk Spring Festival.

In addition, there are tea soup, noodle tea, bean juice and so on. It is also the favorite Spring Festival food of old Beijingers. Tea soup is called "buckle the tea soup bowl" because the bowl is turned over and the tea soup is not spilled. Face tea is very particular about how to eat it. When eating, you don't need chopsticks, spoons and other tableware, but use one hand to circle around the bowl. Old Beijingers only like the slightly sour taste of bean juice. Drinking bean juice with finely cut pickles and eating fried inby have a unique flavor.