Chef Louis Szathmáry once wrote: “the kitchen of every nation has one dish which is not a dish, not even a meal, but an event.”1 It occurs because certain food implies certain meaning which makes it more than just a food. According to Blank, “these culinary events are usually named with one word, and that word elicits a catholic understanding within a culture of the fullest meaning of the term.”2 For a better understanding of Chef Louis Szathmáry’s quote, I’ve chosen a study on the food culinary events in my own country, Malaysia.
Yee Sang
‘Yee Sang’ is one of the most popular dishes to be served during Chinese New
Year in Malaysia. Yee Sang simply means raw fish salad in English. ‘Yee’ means fish in Chinese and Sang means raw, or life. The typical ingredients of Yee Sang include: “fresh sliced salmon, shredded fresh vegetables (white radish, carrot, both red and green capsicum, ginger), Kaffir lime leaves, Chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers (or fried dried shrimp), and five spice powder. The dressing is made primarily from plum sauce, together with some small amount of honey.”3
‘Yee Sang’ is also known as ‘Lao Sang’, with the meaning scoop for life/ toss for life, which is a symbolic of good luck, abundance and prosperity. Whenever the Yee Sang is served, it usually comes with a big, round, flat platter. The shredded fresh vegetables are nicely arranged on the side of the big platter while the small portion of raw sliced fish is placed in the middle. Other than the attractive colourful display of the Yee Sang, the major enjoyment comes from the communal tossing of the Yee Sang with chopsticks. However, before the tossing starts, the adults have to make sure their kids know the correct way to toss or else they will end up with salad messing all over the place. Whenever the ceremony of Yee Sang starts, one (usually the leader or eldest person in the group) will pour the dressing (sauces) on the platter of Yee Sang and then make a command to start tossing. People will call out loud with good words to mark a start of the prosperity year. There is also a saying that the higher you toss the salad, the better luck you will have for the year.
Long time ago, Yee Sang was served together with the family members at home only on the 7th
day (also known as ‘Human Day’ – the day when human was made by the mother goddess) of Chinese New Year. However, ever since the appearance and popularization of restaurants, Yee Sang can be found in almost every Chinese restaurant during the period of Chinese New Year. Chinese people (in particular businessman) like to go for Yee Sang with their colleagues on the day back for work, with the belief and wish that their work will run smoothly for the whole year. The ritual of eating Yee Sang is a tradition of the Chinese in Malaysia since 1950s.
Moon cake
Moon Cake Festival, better known as ‘Mid-Autumn Festival’ among Chinese all over the world, is also called ‘Lantern Festival’ in Malaysia. Moon Cake
Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid or late September in the common calendar), when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. It has the significance of reunion and harmony among the family members. Every time during the moon cake festival, all of the family members would gather around, setting up a table of food and drinks at the courtyard of their house, chit-chatting, and eating moon cakes while enjoying the glorious full moon. Children play, run, and chase around with colourful lanterns. In some families, there is even a ceremony of worship to the moon god. There will also be grand ceremony in the town where you can find lantern parades, sing and dance performances, lantern making competitions, ‘solve the riddles’ game and so on.
There is a Chinese fairy tale passed down by generations on Chang Er, a beautiful celestial who lives on the moon, associated with the celebration of Moon Cake Festival. Long time ago, where there were 10 suns hanging in the sky. Since the weather was too hot, all the crops withered and the people’s life was suffered. A young divine archer named Hou Yi was appointed by the emperor to shot 9 suns out of the 10 suns that caused havoc. As a reward, Hou Yi would be given the elixir of life. However, one day when Hou Yi’s wife Chang Er accidentally drank her husband’s potion of immortality, she found herself floating skyward and she has eventually flew up to the moon. Hou Yi was so sad to lose his wife. In order to commemorate his beloved wife, Hou Yi set up a table of foods of his wife’s favourite at the courtyard of their house every year on this day (15th day of 8th lunar month).
However, there is also an interesting story behind the popularity of the Moon cakes. “During the Yuan Dynasty (1280 A.D - 1368 A.D), China was ruled by the Mongolians. They were very oppressive rulers and the Chinese were suffered under their domination. Thus, the Mongolians were finally overthrown by the Chinese. It might sound curious but the fact remains that the moon cakes played a significant role in the rebellion. The Mongolians did not eat moon cakes and the Chinese were quick to take advantage of that. They found an innovative way of coordinating the revolt. Leaders of the revolt distributed the moon cakes among the common people under the pretext of celebrating the Emperor's long life. Each moon cake had an outline of the attack baked within its skin. The secret message was to inform the people to revolt on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the Mongolians government. Since then the moon cakes became a national tradition of China (Chinese people in wherever country).”4
Tang Yuan
Tang Yuan is normally served during Dong Zhi (means winter solstice in Chinese), which falls around 21st-23rd December of every year. It also indicates that it is the time to get ready for the winter. Although Malaysia is a country in summer throughout the year, Chinese Malaysians still celebrate Dong Zhi, and in most occasions, we call it “Tang Yuan Festival”.
‘Tang Yuan’ in Malaysia is different from the Tang Yuan in China. The taste of the Tang Yuan in China is savoury while the Tang Yuan in Malaysia tastes sweet. It is a small, bite size, ball- like dessert made from glutinous rice flour, cooked with boiling water together with some sugar added. Tang Yuan can be made either filled with sweet lotus paste, red bean paste and so on, or unfilled. It tastes good both hot or chilled. Preparing to make and eat Tang Yuan together with the family members has the symbol of family reunion and prosperity. As “Tang Yuan” has almost the same pronunciation with “Tuan Yuan” (reunion) in Chinese. “Yuan” (round, complete, satisfactory) indicates good meanings in Chinese. Tang Yuan is always served as the last course to complete the meal, significance of an abundance and sweet ending.
“In the past, Dong Zhi was celebrated as the start of the New Year in China until the Han Dynasty when Emperor Han Wu Di (140BC) decreed that the 1st day of the Chinese Lunar Month would be celebrated as the Chinese New Year. But even today, some Chinese, especially the elders, still insist that one is "a year older" after the Dong Zhi celebration. However, there is another story of Dong Zhi, where a long long time ago in China, Dong Zhi was originally a farmer's festival. Dong (winter) was a time when farmers put away their tools and returned home. Thus, families prepared a feast to welcome back fathers and sons who had been working hard to gather in the harvest, and they made offerings to the deities as a sort of Thanksgiving for a good harvest and prayed for an even better year to come.”5
Birthday
In most of the western society, we will see cake served during
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