Sticky rice flour dumpling. Photo: GettyImages

The whole Spring Festival can be summed up in one word: food. The combination and variation of food during the Spring Festival are abundant and creative from place to place, ethnicity to ethnicity.

Just like Ang Lee's movie Eat Drink Man Woman, a foodie film about an aging chef who tries desperately to keep his family together by cooking elaborate feasts for his three daughters every Sunday, food always hovers in the background for important family moments.

The upcoming celebration starts January 30 and ends on the February 14 Lantern Festival. It is time to eat, drink and be merry.

Dumplings. Photo: IC

More dumplings, more money



In a country where people greet each other with a question like "did you eat today?" food is important.

During the Spring Festival, many families pay a lot of attention to preparing foods. They also associate ideas with their dishes.

In North China, the jiaozi (crescent-moon-shaped dumpling) is always the first meal. It has about 1,600 years of history and symbolizes the hope for a year of plenty.

And it's easy to make. You chop the meat into pieces and mash them, then add salt and soy sauce, ginger and cabbage, anything you like, and mix thoroughly.

Legend has it the more dumplings you eat at Chinese New Year, the more money you will make. Sometimes people put a coin in some of the dumplings. Anyone who happens to have a dumpling with a coin will be blessed with good luck in the coming year.

"My children will eat the dumpling very slowly, careful with every bite," Beijing resident Li Jing told the Global Times. "It's a good way of tricking them into eating more than usual."

Just because there is a dumpling restaurant on almost every street in the capital does not mean people from all over the country will have jiaozi during the Spring Festival. Ask people from other provinces: They celebrate differently.

In Central China's Hunan Province, other dishes found on the tables include fried fish, meatballs, as well as small dumpling balls made of sticky rice flour.

In Chinese, fish sounds like "surplus." As Chinese people love saving money, they wish each other "May there be fish every year" meaning: never have a financial shortfall.

"Only now that house prices are growing so high, should we wish 'May there be a house every year' instead," joked Hunan resident Wu Lili.

Wu told the Global Times her favorite food during the Spring Festival is the sticky rice flour dumplings. People eat them during the Lantern Festival as they symbolize family unity and completeness. They can be sweet, filled with sugar, sesame and walnuts, or salty, filled with meat and vegetables.

"We used to make them ourselves, but we are getting lazy these years so we always eat out," she said. "I worry the next generation will forget the symbolism of these things, let alone how to make them."

Residents of Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, favor spring rolls that contain pork and vegetables. People eat the entire roll from one end to the other, symbolizing how everything will go well next year.

The Chinese for rice cake sounds like "getting higher year by year." It is made of sticky rice, sugar and chestnuts and symbolizes improvement in life.

Residents in South China's Guangdong Province favor chicken. Chicken is a must on the table even during the outbreak of bird flu.

"No chicken, no Spring Festival," said Liu Shunxing, a housewife in Guangdong where people have a reputation of eating everything with four legs except a table. "Chicken is a must no matter what."

To ensure the chicken is "clean," she went to the poultry market in the countryside to monitor the whole slaughtering process.

However, the chicken and other dishes will be used for ancestor worship first, human beings second. After sharing food with your ancestors and getting their blessings, then you can officially eat.

No worries. Food will be more than enough from day one to day seven.

"My daughter always complains about eating the leftovers again and again for the whole week," Liu said." I probably cooked too much."

Residents in Northwest China do not have that many choices. In some rural areas, all they have is mantou (steamed buns). So they try to be creative.

"We will make them into different shapes," said Zhang Zixing from Shaanxi Province. "Once our neighbor turned it into a tiger, with black beans for eyes. It was really funny."

Spring rolls. Photo: IC

Give your stomach a break



There are consequences for eating so much and so well. After Spring Festival, health problems also make headlines.

Hospitals are packed with patients with stomach problems. Online forums are filled with questions about how to cope with digestive problems.

"I can't stop eating during the holiday," said food-lover Huang Youyou from Nanjing. "My mouth is always working so I never feel hungry."

The mouth seems to be the source of their problems.

Health experts suggest that if they can hear extra noises besides chewing, or if they feel pain opening their mouth, that's a sign of their mouth saying, "give me a break."

Food safety is another issue.

The State Council Information Office vowed at a press conference recently that a series of measures will be taken to ensure food safety during the upcoming Spring Festival including checking rigorously in restaurants and fully supervising the production process for food in supermarkets.