This Friday, February 12 marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year calendar, or the Year of the Ox, according to the Chinese Zodiac. Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries throughout Asia: China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Tibet, and Mongolia, to name a few. It often involves family gatherings and traditions to usher in the new year, such as the exchange of red envelopes, lion dance, ancestral rites, and stunning displays of firecrackers. Although traditions may differ across cultures, at the heart of Lunar New Year is familial love and hope for an auspicious future.
Lunar New Year celebrations are synonymous with family feasts, because abundance of food is associated with prosperity and good fortune. Lunar New Year foods carry rich cultural associations and origin stories. For instance, it’s customary in Chinese and Taiwanese cultures to eat food items with desirable symbolic meanings, such as prosperity or longevity. In Vietnamese culture, a special rice cake symbolizing the rich fertility of the Earth and motherly love is eaten on this occasion. In Korean culture, a common way of asking for a person’s age is to say, “How many tteokguk have you eaten?”
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Nicole Phan, a Vietnamese student living in New York, recalls fond memories of the holiday with her large family. “Growing up, I would always join my family in making bánh chưng,” she says. “Around New Year’s Eve, friends and family would gather around the fire, singing and dancing together while waiting for the cake to cook.” Bánh chưng, another traditional Vietnamese rice cake, takes about eight to 12 hours to prepare. The long, elaborate process means that people often make more than their family can eat and gift the extras to neighbors and friends.
Whether you’re celebrating with family or friends, add to your home-cooked goodness with these offerings from St. Louis restaurants. (And remember to check the restaurants’ hours ahead of February 12, because they may close to observe the holiday.)
Vietnamese Dishes
Lunar New Year in Vietnam is called Tết, also referred to as Tết Nguyên Đán (Festival of the First Morning) or Tết Ta (Our Festival). Every year during Tết, a bright yellow flower (hoa mai) blooms in the South of Vietnam while a pink one (hoa đào) blooms in the North. Mirroring this difference in seasonal blooms are the regions’ different New Year platters. In the South, a must-have dish for the first meal of the year is bánh tét, a specialty rice cake wrapped in banana leaves. To make the cake’s cylindrical shape, one has to wound the leaves tightly around and fasten them with bamboo strips. On the inside is a layer of slow-cooked sticky rice, ground mung bean, and pork belly at the inner core. The intricate wrapping of the cake is meant to symbolize the protective embrace of a mother, while the green of the leaves and the yellow of the mung bean symbolize the colors of a rice paddy, honoring the agrarian history of the country. Other dishes on the Southern Vietnamese table for this occasion include thịt kho hột vịt (caramelized braised pork belly with boiled eggs) and lạp xưởng, a sweet and savory red sausage commonly known in the States as Chinese sausage.
Here in St. Louis, Little Saigon Cafe is offering bánh tét for a limited time now until February 13. Bánh tét can be served with pickled scallion heads and dried shrimps or as a standalone dish.
In Northern Vietnam, the New Year platter consists of bánh chưng, a square-shaped rice cake similar to bánh tét, in addition to side dishes such as deep-fried egg rolls (nem rán) and sweet glutinous rice (xôi gấc). While egg roll fillings vary widely according to individual taste, most include meat, herbs and mushrooms. Locally, you can find egg rolls at almost every Vietnamese restaurant. Little Saigon Cafe offers a classic edition with pork, shrimp and glass noodles as well as a vegetarian option, served with a fish sauce-based sweet and sour dipping sauce. And consider getting crispy rolls at Dao Tien Bistro, where you can find a version of the Vietnamese sweet glutinous rice and other delicious offerings.
The traditional way to serve egg rolls for Tết is as a side on a celebratory platter called “mâm cỗ.” Egg rolls can be enjoyed in a number of ways, however, including as part of this sumptuous one-dish meal with stir-fry shrimps and vermicelli.
Chinese Dishes
In Chinese culture, New Year’s Eve dinner is also called the Reunion dinner (团年饭 / tuán niánfàn), in which family members gather to celebrate (at least, during pre-pandemic times). Most common food items for this occasion are dumplings and noodles, both of which carry auspicious symbolic meanings. The Chinese words for dumplings is 饺子 (jiǎo zi) and sounds like 交子 (jiāo zi); jiāo means “exchange” and zi means “midnight hour.” Dumplings are supposed to be wrapped at midnight during the transition into the new year. The shape of dumplings also resembles Chinese silver ingots, which means that eating them will bring about wealth.
While dumplings are ubiquitous across Chinese restaurants, Corner 17 has a vibrant selection with spinach-dyed and beetroot-dyed dumplings. Colors in Chinese culture also have symbolic associations—green represents money and wealth, whereas red represents success and happiness—so eating more colors may also bring extra blessings for the new year.
Another must-have food for a Chinese New Year feast: longevity noodles (长面 / cháng miàn), traditionally prepared as one ultra-long strand of noodle. Nowadays, longevity noodles are often not a unitary strand but a bundle of very long ones. As the name suggests, this dish symbolizes a wish for good health and long life.
Longevity noodles are traditionally stir-fried, but there are also soup variations with a variety of different fillings. Head to Corner 17 for the special hand-pulled noodles and customizable toppings. ChiliSpot has one of the best spicy beef noodle soups around, alongside other tasty noodle options. When it comes to noodles, the possibilities are endless.
Nián gāo (年糕), or Chinese rice cake, is another hallmark of Chinese New Year Food. It can be prepared in a stir-fry with Chinese cabbage, meat, and other vegetables or as a stand-alone dessert or snack. The dish is not typically served at restaurants, but you can easily find pre-made nián gāo in international or Asian supermarkets, such as United Provisions or Olive Supermarket.
Korean Dishes
Lunar New Year, known as Seollal (설날) in Korean, is the most celebrated holiday in Korea. Tteokguk (떡국), or Korean rice cake soup, is a must-have for a proper Seollal meal. A bowl typically contains sliced rice cake, thinly sliced omelette, meat, and vegetables in beef broth, garnished with plenty of scallions and dried seaweed. A common variation is duk mandu-guk (떡만두국), which contains dumplings along with the usual toppings. Try this iconic soup at Seoul Garden, which also offers Korean barbecue and a signature selection of richly marinated grill entrées. In the mood for festive fun? Joo Joo Restaurant offers karaoke, so you can sing along to your favorite K-pop songs while enjoying your rice cake soup.
Similar to the Vietnamese and Chinese New Year traditions, Seollal calls for a multi-course feast, and tteokguk alone is hardly enough. On the table for this festive occasion are also signature Korean dishes, such as japchae (잡채 – glass noodle stir-fry) and jeon (전 – pancakes). Both are eaten year-round and on special occasions. Enjoy the meal with some beer or a bottle of soju, a popular Korean alcoholic beverage, sold in such bright flavors as green grape, grapefruit, and strawberry.
Taiwanese Dishes
Foods that are considered lucky in Taiwanese culture include radish cake (菜頭粿), which is a homonym for the Cantonese word for “luck” (彩頭), as well as whole fish (魚), a homonym for the word “surplus” (餘). One tradition is to leave a little food, so there is a “surplus” of wealth in the year to come. You can find radish cake in the dim sum menu at Lu Lu Seafood & Dim Sum.
Hot pot is another special-occasion food in Taiwanese culture. There are countless possibilities when it comes to ingredients, but the most common include thinly sliced beef or pork belly, fresh seafood, tofu, enoki mushrooms, vegetables, and fish balls. Tai Ke Shabu Shabu offers some exciting options: lobster, beef, lamb, pork, seafood, or mushroom hot pot. Can’t decide? Combination hot pot allow you to enjoy two flavors in one pot, half-and-half style. Feeling picky? Choose what goes into your hot pot among the ingredients and add-ons at Tai Ke Shabu Shabu, and remember to add some radish for good fortune.
The Cantonese word for pineapple (黃棃) means “incoming fortune,” which makes it another must-eat food for Lunar New Year. A popular, delicious way to eat pineapple is in pineapple tarts and pineapple buns. Treat yourself with The Foundry Bakery’s pineapple gems, all handcrafted with sun-ripened pineapples. Not a pineapple fan? Try the Taiwanese Bolo buns, which have delicate pineapple patterns carved into them but don’t contain pineapples.
