More Monkey Business

Since my previous posting on CNY traditions, I’ve had a number of email queries as to why I left out certain CNY foods.

No, I have not forgotten about them. Just that when I was typing that post, I couldn’t for the world of me remember the reasons why we ate those foods. I just knew we always had them at CNY. But why?? Well, since then, I’ve managed to clarify a couple of them with my mum. Others are still a blank. So maybe someone can help out?

Here are a few more CNY food “must-haves”…

• La wei (waxed meats). These originated from ancient times when there was no refrigeration or other easy means of preserving meats. CNY or Spring Festival would be celebrated at the end of winter, a season where fresh meats was scarce. And for the Chinese, no celebration or festivity is ever complete without dishes and dishes of meat and fish. As the saying goes, there must be “da yu da rou” at a celebratory meal – literally translated as “big fish, big meat”. So, it was customary, back then, to wax and preserve meats in the summer months, when fresh meat was abundant, and then to serve them during the CNY celebrations. This tradition of eating these preserved meats has continued despite the advent of refrigeration, and the year-round supply of fresh produce. Why? Well, these waxed meats taste really good when cooked with rice in a claypot (in Cantonese: lap mei fun). However, a word of caution… these waxed meats come with copious amounts of preservatives, nitrites and other potentially carcinogenic stuff. So, moderation is the key. Plus, check the country of manufacture. Fortunately, those sold in Singapore are tested by the Agricultural Ministry and certified safe.

• Bak kwa (Hokkien for BBQ sweet pork slices). Hard to describe what these are without pictures. I guess they can be considered as the Chinese version of beef jerky? Only less chewy, and sweeter. These are so, so loved by young and old alike. Great with beer too! People are willing to stand in line, for hours (seriously) just to buy a packet of these from the famous shops. Nowadays, bak kwa is available throughout the year. Yet, there is something special about eating them during CNY. So, never mind the long lines and the highly inflated prices (sometimes up to 100% more expensive than normal times), these are a “must” for CNY. The history of these sweet meats is probably the same as for the waxed meats above, with the latter being of North Asian origins and the former of South East Asian roots. The same cautionary note also applies.

• Kueh sapit (love letters or egg rolls). Paper thin wafer-like cookies made into cigar-shaped rolls. These originated in South East Asia, and were imported from the Malay culture. They were served by our Malay counterparts during Hari Raya (Malay New Year), and we Chinese loved the taste so much, we adopted them into our own food culture! Egg rolls can now be found in North Asia too (China, Hongkong, Taiwan), but they taste different (and look slightly different too). The South East Asian variety, more often than not, has a touch of coconut milk added to the batter, for added aroma, fragrance and taste. How to judge a really well-made kueh sapit? The biscuit must be as thin as possible yet still strong enough not to break too easily. It must be crispy without being hard. It must be golden brown – not burnt but not too pale. It must be just right. These are great on their own, but super dupa with ice cream! : )

There are tons more food items… I’ll never be able to cover them all…

Perhaps pictures will tell the story best… We visited the Chinatown CNY street market last night. (Yes, we did! And it was oh so fun!) I have yet to have a chance to go through the 100+ photos I ended up snapping, so these will be coming up in batches over the next few days. So please bear with me…

Oooh… I’m feeling it… I am beginning to feel all festive and happy! Chinese New Year is coming!

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, distribute or display any of the images and text contained in this article.