Chinese Feasts & Festivals. S. C. Moey
70
Author’s Preface
It is often said that the Chinese live to eat. Happily for them, China’s rich history and culture have, with heaven’s mandate, conspired to fill the traditional calendar with a generous round of festivities at which all their gastronomic longings can be fulfilled.
One good turn deserves another. To honor the benevolent powers that make all things possible, the Chinese install in their homes various guardians—some people call them gods—who at the appropriate times are invited to participate in human festivities and are plied with food and drink. The gods eat the spiritual essence of the offerings and man consumes the delectable substance. Chinese ancestors, who are considered on a par with the gods, are revered and worshiped in the same way with a glorious repast.
Cooking for both man and the gods is thus an event rich in symbolism—bringing wealth, happiness, luck and prosperity—all the things that man desires and which the gods can provide. Cooking for important festive occasions like this may seem like a formidable task, and certainly in the old days it was an enormous job, though nobody minded or even noticed. Fowls had to be plucked. Shark’s fins, sea cucumbers, bamboo shoots, to name just a few of the ingredients, needed to be soaked, cleaned, boiled and re-boiled—processes that could take several days. There were no short cuts, no labor-saving devices, and everything had to also be cooked over charcoal fires. For most cooks today, these would present insurmountable obstacles. Fortunately, time has taken much of the hard work out of cooking. Today, it is possible to cook for feasts and festivals without breaking one’s back. It can be quite an enjoyable exercise, in fact, thanks to refrigeration, the wide range of modern kitchen appliances available, and the presence of supermarkets stocked with ready-to-use ingredients.
I am privileged to come from a family whose ways are steeped in tradition, and to live in a community which takes great pride in the vibrant expression of its culture. From this great storehouse of knowledge and experience, I have been able to assemble a few culinary facts and fancies, as well as a collection of recipes for the Chinese food lover to read and enjoy or, if the spirit takes flight, to use in cooking up a feast that will impress the ancestors, win approval from the gods, and certainly please the family as well as friends.
S.C.Moey
Penang, 2005
PART ONE
The Chinese Feast
For food to be a truly joyous experience, there must be appropriate occasions to eat, drink and make merry. The Chinese are not short of such occasions. For more than 2,000 years, tradition has satisfied their desire to celebrate through a plethora of festivals, reunions, weddings and anniversaries.
Chinese festival feasts are purely family affairs. Gods and ancestors are invited to the party, but otherwise “outsiders” are generally excluded. The food served on these occasions is a combination of symbols and sumptuous flavors, a spiritual celebration and an earthly pleasure. Dishes suggesting wealth, luck and splendor by way of their appearance or because they rhyme with certain auspicious Chinese words, simmer or saute in pots and woks. Proportions are generous as custom dictates that one should not stint at the festive table. Abundance brings luck. For families of modest means, surplus is restricted to these special occasions. Hence festivals, with their promise of cornucopia, are eagerly awaited.
Before man can enjoy, the gods must be nourished. In Chinese homes, gods and ancestors take the form of tablets—red wooden or metal rectangles mounted on the wall, fitted with jars or cylinders for candles and joss sticks. Calligraphic characters in black or gold identify the ancestors. Three “protectors”—the Heavenly Emperor or Jade Emperor, the Earth God and the Kitchen God—are installed to look after the home. People in need of “extra protection” reinforce these with additional help from the God of Wealth, the Warrior God (Guan Gong) and the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin). Food and wine are set on a tray or table before each tablet. The most efficacious offerings are chicken, roast pork, fresh lettuce, spring onions, celery, rice, sweet rice cakes and fruits—all symbolic of life and its attendant virtues and values. The same delicacies may be offered to the three household gods, who are worshiped in turns. Extra places are set in case a god has company. Popular imagination assigns two bodyguards to each celestial VIP.
Traditionally, the lady of the house conducts the offering rites. Once the food is set, the protector and his entourage, if any, are welcomed with two red candles. This is followed by an offering of joss sticks together with prayers and,