Foods for Luck

Whether it’s the year of the Ox, Rat or Tiger, there are certain foods that are always considered lucky in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Chinese communities.

If you’re visiting friends over the new year holiday, pick the right gift or cook the right foods and you’ll increase your chances for good luck during the rest of the year.

“Many foods in a Lunar New Year menu are included because their names, in Chinese, sound auspicious,” says feng shui consultant Jenny Liu.

Ho si (dried oysters) sounds like good times. Fat choi (sea moss) sounds like “accumulating wealth,” and saarng choi (raw lettuce) sounds like growing wealth.

Anything round (a shape that is considered ideal) is esteemed, including melons and deep-fried sweet dumplings filled with peanuts, popcorn and molasses. Any fruit gold in color, like tangerines or kumquats, connotes gold, prosperity and money. Ideally, give fruit with its branches and leaves intact. It signifies fertility.

“Cooks always make two of anything, such as two whole chickens, two whole ducks,” says Jenny Liu. “One is for the home, the other for the gods.”

Fresh fish is essential. The Cantonese word for fish, yu, sounds like the word for abundance. Families eat fish to ensure that they will have an ample supply of food for the coming year.

This holiday Liu’s mother, Marian, will host 60 guests at their home in Arcadia.

Her menu will consist of eight dishes (eight is a lucky number), including one casserole with 10 ingredients. Why 10? Ten is considered a perfect number.