What do we eat during the Lantern Festival? What are the traditional foods?

What do we eat during the Lantern Festival? What are the traditional foods?
Introduction: The Lantern Festival is a traditional folk cultural festival of ours, and eating Lantern Festival dumplings has become a custom during the festival. However, in addition to eating Lantern Festival dumplings, there are other delicacies in different regions. So, what other traditional foods are there for the Lantern Festival? Now, let’s follow the editor to learn about it. The first month of the lunar calendar is about to begin with various festivals. Let us count the important traditional festivals and customs of this month. A good year starts with spring.
1. Tangyuan and Yuanxiao
During the Lantern Festival, people in the south eat glutinous rice balls, while people in the north eat glutinous rice balls, all for the beautiful meaning of seeking family reunion. The main raw material for making Tangyuan and Yuanxiao is glutinous rice, which is mild in nature, sweet in taste, and can replenish deficiency and regulate blood, strengthen the spleen and appetite, invigorate qi and stop diarrhea. It has the functions of warming the middle, promoting body fluid and moisturizing dryness. The fillings of glutinous rice balls can be sweet, salty, meat or vegetarian, while the fillings of Yuanxiao are mostly sweet, usually made of fruit and dried fruits.
2. Lettuce
During the Lantern Festival, Guangdong people like to "steal" lettuce, mix it with cakes and pastries and cook it. It is said that this food represents good luck. Guangdong people are peaceful and down-to-earth, and they seek good luck in festivals. Lettuce, which is usually used in festive occasions such as the opening of a new store, is also a must-have for the Lantern Festival. Lettuce is often a common vegetable on southern dinner tables. Its name sounds similar to "making money", which means making money. Therefore, it is also regarded as a festive symbol of wealth and good fortune.
3. Yuanxiao Tea
In Shaanxi and other places, there is a custom of eating Yuanxiao tea, which is to put various vegetables and fruits into the hot soup noodles, which is very similar to the ancient "Yuanxiao porridge". This tea increases the intake of fiber, minerals and vitamins, and is not as greasy as ordinary Yuanxiao. It can neutralize the acidic constitution caused by eating more animal foods during the festival, and also makes the Yuanxiao more nutritionally comprehensive.
4. Camellia oleifera
The food for the Lantern Festival night is as follows: in the plains, it is called “flat dumplings on the 15th and round dumplings on the 16th”; in the mountainous areas, it is called “oil tea on the 15th and flat dumplings on the 16th”. This is exactly what is meant by “customs vary every ten miles”. Making tea means stirring the tea with chopsticks and putting it into the pot to make oil tea, also known as noodle tea.
5. Oil hammer
The traditional food for the Lantern Festival was rice or bean porridge topped with gravy during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. But this food is mainly used for sacrificial offerings and cannot be considered a festival food. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that Zheng Wangzhi's "Records of the Chef" recorded: "People in Bianzhou celebrate the Lantern Festival with oil hammers." The method of making oil hammers, according to a record of "Shangshi Ling" in "Lu's Miscellaneous Stories" quoted in "Taiping Guangji", is similar to the later fried Yuanxiao. Some people also call it the "Pearl of Oil Painting".
6. Dumplings
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is here. People in the north have the habit of eating dumplings. People in Henan have the Lantern Festival custom and tradition of "flat dumplings on the fifteenth and round dumplings on the sixteenth", so dumplings should be eaten on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Dumplings are a folk food with a long history and are very popular among the people. There is a folk saying that "nothing tastes better than dumplings."
7. Date Cake
People in western Henan like to eat date cakes during the Lantern Festival, as they represent good luck and fortune. Date cake was originally a royal pastry of the Qing Dynasty. It has a fragrant flavor and is sweet in the mouth. It contains nutrients such as vitamin C, protein, calcium, iron, vitamins, etc. It can not only nourish the spleen and stomach, invigorate qi and promote salivation, but also protect the liver, increase muscle strength, nourish the skin and prevent aging.
8. Sticky Cake
Sticky cake is also known as rice cake. In addition to Yuanxiao and noodles, people also eat sticky cakes during the Lantern Festival. Sun Simiao, a famous doctor in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in "Prescriptions for Emergencies: Food Therapy" that "Rice is sweet, slightly cold, non-toxic, can remove heat and benefit Qi." After the Tang Dynasty, there were also records of eating cakes on the Lantern Festival in the Yuan Dynasty.
9. Bean dough
People in Kunming like to eat bean dough. The method of making it is similar to that of Yuanxiao. The beans are fried and then ground into flour. After being rolled into balls, they are boiled in water. It tastes good.
10. Fermented Soup
People in Taizhou eat fermented rice soup after watching the lanterns on the 14th day of the first lunar month every year. The rice soup is made by stir-frying shredded pork, shredded winter bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, fresh dragonfly, dried tofu, fried dough sticks, Sichuan bean curd, spinach, etc., then adding a little rice flour and cooking it into a salty paste. The fermented rice soup drunk on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is sweet, made with sweet potato starch or lotus root starch, lotus seeds, sweet dates, longans, etc.
11. Steamed buns and wheat cakes
In Pujiang area of ​​Zhejiang, there is a custom of eating steamed buns and wheat cakes during the Lantern Festival. It is said that the reason is that steamed buns are made of leavened dough and wheat cakes are round, which means "reunion of children and grandchildren". In Shangyuan, Changde, Hunan Province, families use pepper as soup and add leeks, fruits and other ingredients to entertain guests, which is called "seasonal soup".
12. Noodles
There is a folk saying in Jiangbei area that goes "Eat noodles on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month to wish for the coming year". Locals eat noodles on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month, which may sound unrelated to the Lantern Festival, but it also means praying for good luck. "Yihui Sui Shi Ji" records: "On the 18th day of the first lunar month, the lanterns are turned off and people eat noodles, which is commonly known as 'dumplings for the lanterns and noodles for the lanterns'. Each family holds their own banquet to celebrate." Eating noodles when the lanterns are turned off symbolizes continuous joy.
Summary: Through the above article, we know some traditional foods about the Lantern Festival. I hope you will like it. I wish you all good luck and prosperity in the new year!

After reading this article, there are more exciting contents in the special topic of the first month of the lunar calendar. Let’s take a look!

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