Lunar New Year foods and what they mean

The classic dishes

• A whole fish. The word for fish sounds like the word for surplus, so a fish promises that the year will end with something left over. It is served whole, head and tail on, and some of it is deliberately left uneaten so the surplus carries into next year.
• Dumplings. Folded dumplings look like the silver ingots once used as money, and in northern China families fold them together late on New Year's Eve. One dumpling sometimes hides a coin, and whoever gets it is in for a lucky year.
• Spring rolls. Fried golden and rolled tight, they look like bars of gold. A plate of them is a wish for wealth, and they are easy enough that children can help roll them.
• Long noodles. Longevity noodles are served as long as possible and are slurped, never bitten through, because cutting the noodle is thought to shorten the life it stands for.
• Sticky rice cake. Nian gao, a sweet steamed cake, sounds like "a higher year". Eating it is a wish to rise in the coming twelve months, whether in work, study or height, which is why it is pushed on children.
• Tangerines and oranges. Round, gold and plentiful, they stand for both wealth and good luck, and the Cantonese word for tangerine sounds like the word for luck. They are given in pairs and kept with the leaves on, since the leaves mean a lasting relationship.
• A whole chicken. Served with head and feet, a whole bird stands for the family being complete and the year going from start to finish without a break.
• Lettuce. The Cantonese name sounds like "growing wealth", which is why the lion in a lion dance snatches a head of lettuce hung above a shop door and scatters it over the crowd.
• The sweets tray. A round box with six or eight compartments holds candied fruit, melon seeds, lotus seeds and sweets. It sits out for visitors throughout the fifteen days, and each item has its own wish: lotus seeds for children, candied melon for growth, red melon seeds for joy.
• Tangyuan. Glutinous rice balls in sweet soup, eaten on the Lantern Festival that closes the season. The name sounds like "reunion", and the shape says the same thing.

Tết dishes in Vietnam

The Vietnamese table has its own icons. Bánh chưng is a square cake of sticky rice, mung bean and pork wrapped in leaves and boiled for most of a day, often by the whole family together on the last night of the year. In the south it is rolled into a log and called bánh tét. Alongside it come pickled shallots to cut the richness, a boiled chicken, a pot of braised pork and eggs, candied fruits and ginger served to guests, and a tray of five fruits chosen for their names and colours.

Seollal dishes in Korea

The Korean new year meal starts with tteokguk, a clear soup of thinly sliced rice cake, often with beef, egg and seaweed. The coin-shaped slices stand for wealth, and tradition says you only become a year older once you have eaten your bowl. Around it sit jeon, savoury pancakes of fish, courgette or kimchi, and sweet treats such as honey cookies and sweetened rice puffs.

A first reunion dinner at home

You do not need ten dishes. Five cover the symbolism and fit on a normal table:

• Steamed whole fish with ginger, spring onion and soy. A whole trout or bream works. Leave a little on the plate.
• Dumplings, bought frozen if you are short on time. Boil them, and hide a clean coin in one if there are children.
• Stir-fried greens, lettuce or broccoli, for growth.
• Long noodles, tossed with sesame oil and soy. Serve them last and keep them whole.
• A bowl of tangerines in the middle of the table, leaves on, an even number of them.

Set out more than you think you need. Leftovers are the point: the year is supposed to end with surplus, and it starts the same way.

If you are a guest

Bring tangerines or oranges in a pair or an even number, a box of good sweets or tea, or a bottle of something. Hand it over with both hands. Avoid pears, which sound like "separation", anything in sets of four, and sharp objects. If the family is Chinese, a clock is a particularly bad gift, because "giving a clock" sounds like a phrase connected with funerals. When in doubt, oranges are never wrong.