A fish dish and a vegetarian entree are always served on the eve of New Year to show family and friends that you are offering them abundance. At Chinese New Year, the menu should strive for harmony or yin and yang. Yang foods or cooking techniques have a warming effect on the body whereas foods and cooking methods that are yin have the opposite cooling effect. Try to contrast colours, textures and degrees of flavour. The idea is to please the eye and the palate.
Desserts are also important during the festival.
These can include tarts, cookies, dumplings and fruits like candied lotus seeds, wintermelon and sugar-coated coconut. The colours red and gold dominate through all the rituals and good cheer greeting the New Year. Traditions surrounding the colour red originate with the legend of the beast Nian, who plagued the Chinese. The beast is afraid of loud noises and hates red. The gold is to represent riches.