Name: 11 Foods to Eat or NOT Eat During the Chinese New Year
Uploaded: 2018-02-04T07:47:38.000Z
Duration: 5 min 10 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hey guys, it's Mike. It's Dan. Like we mentioned from our celebrating Chinese New Year video,

we're gonna be reposting this from my Strictly Dumpling Channel

And this is basically all the foods that you should or should not eat during Chinese New Year

Like you guys should make this your Chinese New Year Food Bible right now

Well, hopefully it helps you out, and if it's too late,

then I'm sorry misfortune has fallen upon you.

I'm just kidding man, but yeah, don't do certain things. Be careful. Take a look .

Hey, everyone. Hope everyone had a awesome new year.

Now you know the Chinese are serious about food, and the Chinese people consider food a major part of traditional Chinese culture

and every year certain foods are always expected to show up on the dinner table during new year celebrations.

And some foods are to be completely avoided!

Here's a list of the eleven food items that you should or should not eat to ring in the new year.

Make sure to eat some noodles in the new year

where else you will be cutting your longevity like who will want that?

also remember that some of these noodles, especially homemade ones could be really really long

so breathe out before you start slurping!

Oranges or tangerines are often called  Jīn jú, or golden oranges, or golden tangerines

So Chinese believe oranges will bring fortune in the new year

also in Chinese the Ju in Ju Zi also sounds like Ji or Ji Li which means good luck.

Are you afraid of chicken heads? Well join the club!

Whole chickens represent togetherness and rebirth. It's symbolic of the family and can also signify unity and prosperity as a group.

Although you can have a whole chicken anytime, it is a must during family gatherings and special holidays.

And don't forget their head and feet must remain on to represent unity.

Whole chickens are also popular offerings to gods and ancestors.

Chinese love pomegranates because of all the seeds bundle together.

and it is a favorite during the new year.

You should also eat those fruits on your wedding day

So you know eat a pomegranate and ｍaybe you will soon be blessed with the child

or "Zao Sheng Gui Zi" as we say in Chinese

But not every pomegranate's seed will turn into a child because that would just be a lot of kids.

Sunflower and melon seeds are traditionally eaten as they are of course called seeds or Zi

and like the pomegranate symbolizes fertility and having many children.

Nian Gao or sometimes known as Chinese pudding is a must have.

Nian Gao which literally translates to sticky cake also sound the same as Nian Gao

or year high meaning a more prosperous new year.

This is a must to celebrate new years, as dumplings are said to be filled with luck and their shape look like ears and also Chinese silver ingots.

I will explain why the ear reference is important in my origins of the dumpling video, so watch out for that.

It's traditional to serve a whole fish on new years.

The Chinese word for fish is Yu which sounds like the word for plenty in Chinese, which is also Yu.

Some Chinese even save part of the fish for later which ensures abundance for their future.

also don't take off the head as fishes (heads) are considered the best part of the fish by many Chinese.

Egg rolls or spring rolls are eaten during the new year

because after they're fried, they look like little bars of gold

Whatever you do, do not serve white foods to celebrate the new year. White foods are things like tofu.

This is because Chinese symbolizes the color white with death.

Don't eat squid on special occasions especially not in a new year.

because squid in Chinese is called Yóu Yú.

In the olden days, workers would have to travel far from home to work often bringing personal belongings rolled up in a blanket.

And when they were fired, they would roll up their blankets and leave.

At that time, there was a popular dish called Chao Yóu Yú or stir-fried squid.

People noticed that when the squid was cooking in the pan it would curl up like the workers rolling up their blankets.

That's stir fried squid or Chao Yóu Yú was used to tell the workers that they were laid off.

So if you think your boss, just told you he's gonna take you out for some stir-fry squid. That's probably not what he meant

Also guys Chinese parents always say what you eat is what you will be.

So eat the fish eyeballs and your eyes will become brighter and better.

Eat the chicken brain ,or any other brains if you prefer and you will be smarter!

relax your eyes by a go munching on some fish eyeballs.

Guys don't forget to subscribe to my channel like me on Facebook and Happy New Year!