介绍:
Lincoln: Chinese New Year! Wu You, we love the food, we love to eat at Chinese New Year, Spring Festival. It’s a good time to eat. What exactly is happening here in terms of food, and quickly, before you get started, what’s your favourite dish?
WY: Oh, fish.
Lincoln: Fish – you said that immediately, you had that at the top of your mind.
WY: That was like my instinct!
Lincoln: Great – go ahead, tell us a little bit more.
WY: Chinese food is very delicious, and every food in China has its own symbolism deeply rooted in the Chinese culture, and different kinds of food have different meanings, so they express people’s good wishes for the New Year.
Lincoln: Alright, like your favourite food is fish, what does fish mean?
WY: Chinese people give it many kinds of meanings. Fish has its Chinese pronunciation as ‘Yu’, which means “more”, and extra and surpluses, so that means every year you will have surpluses and a bountiful harvest, so that’s a good wish to you.
Lincoln: Quite good for saving money, maybe being a bit more frugal going into the New Year. What else have we got, Wu You?
WY: And also dumplings. You have to mention dumplings.
Lincoln: Oh, I love the jiaozi, one of my favourite things in the world.
WY: So Chinese dumplings enjoy worldwide popularity, and its history can be traced back to South and North Dynasty, and also it is very popular to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year dinner, and sometimes there will be a very interesting tradition: people will put something in the stuffing, in the fillings.
Lincoln: Oh, something? Something what? I would hope there would be something in it.
WY: Like a coin.
Lincoln: That seems like it could be potentially dangerous. Do people swallow the coin?
WY: Depends on how much it is.
Lincoln: OK. Must be a pretty big coin if it depends on how much it is! I’m quite worried about that one, Wu You. I don’t know if I’m on board with that. Michael?
Michael: I think we used to do a similar thing, I think, in the olden days. People don’t do this now, for reasons of health and safety and other things, but I think in Christmas cake or Christmas pudding, people used to put coins in that, and whoever got the coin was going to have a very prosperous new year, that sort of thing.
Lincoln: I’ve heard of that.
WY: And some families, they put peanuts in it, instead of coins. There will be only one dumpling that’s filled with peanuts, so whoever eats it, luckily, they will become wealthier in the New Year.
Lincoln: Can I ask a question, Wu You? Traditionally, in my culture at least, where I’m from, the women take care of the food. (WY: That’s true) It’s the mothers, the sisters, the aunts, they bake up a storm two days ahead of time.
WY: Yes, it is. They wake up very early in the morning.
Lincoln: So is this something that happens in Chinese culture as well? (WY: Yes, it is) It usually falls on the women to do this kind of cooking?
WY: Usually they really enjoy it, because they can cooperate so [well] while they were talking, they were preparing the food, I think it is sort of [binding] the family. (Lincoln: This is absolutely true) It is smoothing the relationship, and everyone is so happy.
