Tom Murray 1 day ago
EDMONTON JOURNAL
Sonny Sung has many fond memories of celebrating the Lunar New Year while growing up in Taiwan.
Sonny Sung has many fond memories of celebrating the Lunar New Year while growing up in Taiwan.
© David Bloom Chef Sonny Sung demonstrates how to prepare duck with glutinous rice in preparation for Lunar New Year at Evario Kitchen and Grill.
“When you’re young, you’re always waiting for New Years,” explains Sung, currently the executive chef at Evario Kitchen and Bar. “First of all you’re wearing new clothes because your family buys you some, and secondly there are the red envelopes with money that you’re given by everyone in the family. It’s very enjoyable.”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the 16-day celebration that Sung and more than two billion people scattered across the globe participate in every year. Commemorating the last day of the year according to the lunisolar calendar, Lunar New Year also marks the end of winter and will herald in the Year of the Tiger this Tuesday. The fun continues until the first full moon of the year, which is marked by a Lantern Festival. Traditions that have accumulated during its history, which stretches back more than 2,000 years, include ritual house cleaning, firecrackers, incense burning, ceremonies, offerings to ancestors and deities, the always impressive Lion Dance, and perhaps most importantly, the food.
Most dishes would be familiar to westerners: spring rolls, steamed fish, chicken, dumplings and sweet rice cakes are among the items found on any family’s table, as well as sticky rice, braised shiitake mushrooms, duck and the famous longevity, or long-life noodles. Also called Yi Mein noodles, it’s a simple dish often served at New Years and birthday celebrations, and is meant to symbolize longevity.
Edmonton-based graphic designer Alex Chan, who spent part of his childhood at his grandma’s village in Hong Kong, recalls many of the meals of his youth.
“For my mom, it was the only time that she made so many deep-fried dishes,” he laughs. “They weren’t things she made on a normal day, because they’re unhealthy and you waste a lot of oil making them. She still makes a few dishes for New Years, but not any of those.”
He’s a long way away from throwing firecrackers around the common area as a kid, but Chan still reaps the benefits of the red envelopes.
“It’s because I’m still a bachelor,” he chuckles. “I grew up in this very small village, which is a bit strange because 99 per cent of Hong Kong is urban. It meant I got a very traditional Chinese New Year. But growing up we would sometimes use the money we got from the red envelopes to gamble. Chinese New Year is the only time children would be allowed to do this, so we played a game with dice called Fish, Stream, Chicken. For a lot of kids, this was their introduction to gambling.”
yegarts@postmedia.com
“When you’re young, you’re always waiting for New Years,” explains Sung, currently the executive chef at Evario Kitchen and Bar. “First of all you’re wearing new clothes because your family buys you some, and secondly there are the red envelopes with money that you’re given by everyone in the family. It’s very enjoyable.”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the 16-day celebration that Sung and more than two billion people scattered across the globe participate in every year. Commemorating the last day of the year according to the lunisolar calendar, Lunar New Year also marks the end of winter and will herald in the Year of the Tiger this Tuesday. The fun continues until the first full moon of the year, which is marked by a Lantern Festival. Traditions that have accumulated during its history, which stretches back more than 2,000 years, include ritual house cleaning, firecrackers, incense burning, ceremonies, offerings to ancestors and deities, the always impressive Lion Dance, and perhaps most importantly, the food.
Most dishes would be familiar to westerners: spring rolls, steamed fish, chicken, dumplings and sweet rice cakes are among the items found on any family’s table, as well as sticky rice, braised shiitake mushrooms, duck and the famous longevity, or long-life noodles. Also called Yi Mein noodles, it’s a simple dish often served at New Years and birthday celebrations, and is meant to symbolize longevity.
Edmonton-based graphic designer Alex Chan, who spent part of his childhood at his grandma’s village in Hong Kong, recalls many of the meals of his youth.
“For my mom, it was the only time that she made so many deep-fried dishes,” he laughs. “They weren’t things she made on a normal day, because they’re unhealthy and you waste a lot of oil making them. She still makes a few dishes for New Years, but not any of those.”
He’s a long way away from throwing firecrackers around the common area as a kid, but Chan still reaps the benefits of the red envelopes.
“It’s because I’m still a bachelor,” he chuckles. “I grew up in this very small village, which is a bit strange because 99 per cent of Hong Kong is urban. It meant I got a very traditional Chinese New Year. But growing up we would sometimes use the money we got from the red envelopes to gamble. Chinese New Year is the only time children would be allowed to do this, so we played a game with dice called Fish, Stream, Chicken. For a lot of kids, this was their introduction to gambling.”
yegarts@postmedia.com
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