BlueSky Business Aviation News
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Paula Kraft, founder and President of Atlanta, GA-based Tastefully Yours Catering. 

Eat for Luck: The Chinese New Year

ow we've packed away the holiday decorations and settled back into our routines, our memories of New Year parties and wonderful food are becoming a distant memory.

But wait! We may be jumping ahead of ourselves and missing an opportunity to celebrate New Year all over again! That’s right, another New Year party and one that will last for 15 days.

Chinese New Year (also referred to as the Spring Festival) commenced on January 28th and with this celebration we plan menus to 'eat for luck'. Even if you aren’t Chinese, it’s fun to celebrate - but before you can create a menu of holiday delicacies, you must first learn a bit about the food traditions that are part of the celebration.

If I can eat AND gain an edge in creating health and good fortune for myself, I'd be foolish to pass it by.

I must admit that I'm a tad superstitious. I won’t walk under a ladder, I throw salt over my shoulder, I fear seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror, and I wish upon shooting stars. The festivities and foods surrounding this event are dynamic and electrifying. What fun for your passengers and crews to enjoy something different for dinner whilst eating for extra good luck, wealth and good health in the coming year.

For those of you traveling in and around China during this time, you may want to double check your service providers as many businesses dramatically slow down (almost to nothing) so the owners and workers can spend time with their families. The Chinese New Year celebration lasts for 15 days with plenty of activities scattered throughout. In the first five days of the New Year, people eat long noodles to symbolize long life. On the 15th and final day of the New Year, round dumplings shaped like the full moon are shared as a sign of the family unit and of perfection. (A bit of trivia: Eight individual dishes are served to reflect the belief of good fortune associated with the number eight. If, in the previous year, a death was experienced in the family, seven dishes are served.) And on the seventh day - also known as 'everyone’s birthday' - they serve New Year Salad. The higher the salad is tossed, the greater your luck and prosperity!

What gives certain foods symbolic significance? Sometimes it's based on the appearance of the dish or its shape, and at other times because it's name, when spoken, sounds like another word for fortune, wealth, health or happiness. Sounds like fun, right? And what a surprising departure from the classic turkey sandwich lunch.

Here we go - loads of Lucky foods to serve on board during this New Year celebration . . .

Spring Rolls

Spring rolls get their name because they are traditionally eaten during the Spring Festival. Spring rolls are a dim sum dish of cylindrical-shaped rolls filled with vegetables, meat, or something sweet. Fillings are wrapped in a thin dough, then fried. When the rolls turn a golden-yellow color during cooking, they resemble gold bars. When placed on a plate they resemble a "a ton of gold" - a wish for prosperity.

Fruit

Tangerines, Oranges and Pomelos: Displayed as decorations and given as gifts, the tangerine is said to represent wealth, and the orange brings good luck and success. While their bright vibrant colors lend themselves to the spirit of the day, their associations with wealth and luck are due to the sounds of their name when pronounced. The Cantonese word for tangerine is similar to 'wealth', and the word for orange is similar to 'luck'.

Eating and displaying tangerines and oranges is believed to bring good luck and fortune. It’s good if they have leaves, because leaves symbolize longevity. But don’t group them in fours in a fruit basket, because that number is associated with death. Eight is a lucky number. Eating pomelos (a large Chinese grapefruit) is also lucky. The more you eat, the more wealth it will bring.

Pomegranates, a vibrant fruit filled with bright red jewel , is a symbol of happiness, and fertility, and is said to ward off evil spirits. It’s healthy for you, too! How easy for you to add pomegranate seeds to you mixed salad greens with sections of pomelo, or oranges. I love to toss the seeds in my yogurt parfait, on top of my garden salad, over ice cream or other dessert or include them on a fruit or cheese platter.

Chinese Dumplings

With a history spanning more than 1,800 years, dumplings are a classic Chinese food. Traditionally dumplings/pot stickers are prepared and eaten at midnight on the Lunar New Year’s Eve. With an unlimited assortment of fillings, they can be served for just about any course in the meal service. Chinese dumplings resemble Chinese silver ingots - their currency - which are not bars, but boat-shaped ovals, turned up at each end. Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during the New Year celebrations; the more money you can make in the New Year.

Most Dumplings are prepared with fillings of minced meat and finely-chopped vegetables wrapped in a thin and elastic dough skin. The most popular fillings are minced pork, diced shrimp, fish, ground chicken, beef, and vegetables. They can be cooked by boiling, steaming, frying or baking. My personal favorite is the steamed method with a scallion soy dip. My mouth waters just thinking about them. A dumpling can be served as an appetizer, on top of a salad, added to a soup, or even as a creative pasta dish.

When ordering your dumplings, ask your catering source to send dumplings with the most number of ruffles across the top. I know, I know, sounds crazy, but if you make the connecting seam too flat, it is thought to imply poverty.

If you're serving the dumplings to your passengers, you should arrange them in lines instead of circles, because circles of dumplings are supposed to mean one's life will go around in circles, never going anywhere. Consuming dumplings assures you that you will be 'Bringing in wealth and treasure' - a well-chosen wish for making money and gathering a fortune.

Noodles

Long noodles, sometimes called Longevity noodles, obviously symbolize a wish for longevity.

A dish of unbroken noodles is said to represent not only longevity, but a rich and lofty life. Beware however not to break the noodle when eating as it means you are shortening your life. These are longer-than-normal noodles, very different from the packaged spaghetti noodle, and uncut, boiled and served in a bowl with their broth, as an entrée. However, one must slurp them in unbroken - and in one piece!

Add sesame noodles with scallions & radishes, Peking-style noodles or gingery shiitake noodles . . . or make sure the noodles appear in a soup - perhaps a quick & easy hot-and-sour chicken noodle soup.

Sweets

Niángāo (pronounced nyen-gaoww), is a Glutinous Rice Cake whose sweetness symbolizes a rich, sweet life, whilst the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming year. Its round shape signifies reunion, and is typically served at family gatherings. In Chinese, 'Niángāo' sounds like it means "'getting higher year-by-year" and is interpreted as meaning that the higher you are, the more prosperous your business is. Consuming this cake brings business success, childrens' healthy growth, better school grades and even promotion. In other words, helping you to get one step higher in whatever you're trying to achieve. The main ingredients of Niángāo are sticky rice, sugar, chestnuts, Chinese dates, and lotus leaves. Doesn’t it sound delicious?

Tāngyuán (pronounced tung-ywen) are incredible Sweet Rice Balls that are generally served in a sweetened soup type broth, often wine based. These are generally served for the Lantern Festival which occurs on the 15th day of the New Year, but are so delicious that they're often eaten throughout the New Year. Their round shape and the pronunciation of the name in Chinese, resembles the word for reunion and of being together. The round balls are also symbolic of the complete circle of harmony & unity, and the sweet taste symbolizes a sweet life for the coming year.

Vegetables

Jai is a vegetarian dish that has its origins in the Buddhist culture and is eaten because it is believed to cleanse your body, spirit and soul with vegetables. It’s packed with good-luck foods including: sea moss for prosperity; lotus seeds for the birth of sons; noodles for longevity; lily buds to “send 100 years of harmonious union” and Chinese black mushrooms to 'fulfill wishes from east to west'.

Another lucky food to order is Eight Treasures Rice. This can be served at breakfast with yogurt, as a side vegetable and even a sweet salad or dessert. This dish is made of rice, dried fruit, raisins, walnuts, jujube dates, sweet red bean paste, and almonds. If this doesn’t appeal to you, order a side of sautéed peppers, onions and long beans.

Long Greens

Long leafy greens, bok choy, long beans, and Chinese broccoli are served whole to wish a long life for parents, and personal growth in all one’s endeavors during the year.

Try one of my favorites as a side dish - Bok choy with oyster sauce - or be brave and order vegetable omelet rolls rather than a traditional omelet. At Tastefully Yours, we matchstick-cut the length of the vegetables and cut strips of long greens, place them on top of an egg mixture and bake. When firm to the touch, but still soft, we roll them into a log. These make a great brunch, lunch, or late dinner meal.

Fish

In Chinese, "fish" sounds like 'surplus'. Chinese people believe that having a surplus at the end of the year means that they are good stewards of their finances, meaning that they can make more money in the next year. For this reason, there should be fish left over from New Years eve to New Years Day. Surplus at the beginning and end of the New Year.

Fish can be cooked in various ways such as boiling, steaming, and braising. The most famous Chinese fish dishes include steamed Weever (Oxford dictionary defines it as a small, long-bodied fish with eyes at the top of the head and venomous dorsal spines. It occurs along European Atlantic coasts, typically buried in the sand with just the eyes and spines protruding), West Lake fish with pickled cabbage and chili, steamed fish in vinegar sauce, and boiled fish with spicy broth.

What fish should be chosen to serve for the New Year feast is based on the way it sounds when spoken.

Crucian carp: As the first character of ‘crucian carp' sounds like the Chinese word for good luck, eating crucian carp is considered to bring good luck for the next year.

Chinese mud carp: The first part of the Chinese for “mud carp” is pronounced like the word for gifts. So Chinese people think eating mud carp during the Chinese New Year symbolizes wishing for good fortune.

Catfish: The Chinese for “catfish” sounds like a word meaning ‘year surplus'. So eating catfish is a wish for a surplus in the year. Eating two fish, one on New Year's Eve and one on New Year's Day, (if written in Chinese in a certain way) sounds like a wish for a surplus year-after-year. If only one catfish is eaten, eating the upper part of the fish on New Year's Eve and the remainder on the first day of the new year can be spoken with the same meaning for surplus year after year.

If you are a bit superstitious, then there are some rules related to the position of the fish to maintain their suspected powers. I am not sure how you can translate this to the aircraft unless you are a flight attendant serving and placing the platter on the table and weaving the tale of Chinese New Year Eating for Luck . . .

  • The head should be placed toward distinguished guests or elders, representing respect.

  • Diners can enjoy the fish only after the one who faces the fish head eats first.

  • The fish shouldn't be moved. The people who face the head and the tail of fish should drink together, as this is considered to have a lucky meaning. But…don’t break the bones while eating or you will break your luck. All those around the table should be commenting as they eat and drink “may you always have more than you need” in order for them to receive the luck.

Good fortune, happiness, and prosperity are universal. Why not create your menus for these two weeks of the Spring Festival with all these food superstitions used in planning a lucky new year- Eat for Luck!

 

 


Let me introduce myself . . . 

My name is Paula Kraft and I am founder and President of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years.

Aviation Catering is a science not taught in Culinary School; it’s a function of experience, experimentation, basic trial and error, with constant feedback from flight crews and clients. It is a two-way communication. It is vital that this information and knowledge be shared throughout the industry. To this end, I have worked as the Chairman of the NBAA Caterer’s Working Group, a subcommittee of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee, the NBAA Caterer Representative to the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee, for 9 years. 

Currently I am an active member of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Advisory Board and the NBAA International Flight Attendant Committee, Women in Corporate Aviation, Women in Aviation International, National Association of Catering Executives, International Flight Catering Association, the International Food Service Association and the International Caterer’s Association.

I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA, EBAA and BA-Meetup conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery.

I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after). So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering.


Got a question?

Paula welcomes your comments, questions or feedback
email: paula.kraft@blueskynews.aero

 

©BlueSky Business Aviation News | 2nd February 2017 | Issue #402
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