Is a radish cake enough to cause luck?
As the Lunar New Year approaches, a certain frenzy tinged with hope is sweeping through Chinese kitchens. Of the tang yuan to changshou mian (“longevity noodles”), the South China Morning Post (SCMP) describes the dishes traditionally eaten between the start of the “Spring Festival”, this January 22, 2023, and the “Lantern Festival”, a fortnight later.
Many of them are intended for “to honor the benevolent powers thanks to which all is possible, […] and who are invited to participate in human festivities to be stuffed with food and drink, whenever the opportunity arises”described SC Moey in Chinese Feasts & Festivals – A Cookbook, published in 2006 and cited by the Hong Kong daily.
“As it is cooking for both men and gods, this activity is therefore rich in symbols: it must bring wealth, happiness, luck and prosperity, all that a human being can desire and that the gods can provide for him.”
Always in the SCMP, Susan Jung stops on the loh bok goh (Where luobo
