Year of the Ox - graze on this

Monday, Jan. 26, 2009, marks the start of the Chinese new year, the year of the . Jaden Hair, who writes a bright and informative blog called Steamy Kitchen, talked with her parents last year about Chinese food superstitions. These are from her mom, whose family hails from Canton:

• To begin with, Mom always serves a noodle dish, the strands of the noodles signifies long life. Don’t cut the noodles before serving, otherwise you’re snipping your life short.
• A whole chicken, head and all, is served simply steamed to represent good health. A whole steamed fish, eyeballs and all, was served for abundance.” The Chinese word for fish is, “yu,” which, according to my mom, sounds similar to the Chinese word for “every year our family has something leftover and we always have enough.” The Chinese are very efficient in the language department.
• Crispy egg rolls, once fried to a golden brown, resemble long gold bars. Handmade dumplings, either pan fried or boiled, look like ancient Chinese gold ingots. My mom’s family used to hide a gold coin in one of the hundreds of dumplings that they would make and the lucky bastard who bit into the dumpling with the coin was to receive wealth and prosperity throughout the year following a hefty dental bill, I’m sure.
• For luck, display plenty of tangerines, preferably big fat ones with leaves still attached. Also of great importance is “Nien Goh,” or steamed rice cake, which signifies “every year you reach a higher level of life,” says mom.
• But whatever you do, don’t serve squid, called “Yow Yu.” In the olden days, workers would have to travel far from home to work, often bringing personal belongings rolled up in a blanket. When a worker was fired, he was ordered to “yow,” or roll up his blanket, packing his stuff to go home. Serving squid symbolizes being fired in the coming year. If your co-workers or subordinates pleasantly surprises you with a dish of succulent squid, be very suspicious.

Food trends from abroad

Yesterday, I posted the 2009 trends from foodchannel.com; today, we check out what the Europeans foresee, courtesy of thefoodpeople.com.

Among the mega trends expected to continue into next year, are “comfort food, nostalgia, scratch cooking and home baking, as consumers want to save money as well as feel good about the food they serve.”
Overall, the amount of protein on plates will shrink. But where meat is served, consumers will aim to make it go as far as possible through “head-to-tail” eating – including offal.
And considering the stiff markup of alcoholic beverages in restaurants and bars, more people will have that drink at home, either with their meal there, or before going out.
Thefoodpeople sees less reliance on packaged food. The group also predicts an uptick in fishing and growing your own vegetables.
Also emerging will be ‘freeganism’ – that is, the practice of living off discarded, yet perfectly edible food that has been thrown out. To date the freegan movement has been driven by green crusaders who object to unnecessarily wasted food clogging up landfill sites. Now it may catch on with people trying to decrease household spending.
People may start to club together and produce food by committee, and begin community food projects.
Sustainability will “remain high on the agenda”. This includes sustainable fish sourcing, and investigating little consumed varieties that are not endangered, such as rockfish and flounder.
Organic foods, because of their expense, may well drop back in importance.
Desserts are likely to contain less sugar and derive more flavors from the ingredients themselves, and also cross the line into savory sensations.