Wedding Blog

Chinese people eat interesting stuff. Even with my traditional family upbringing, I do a double take with some of the things my mom orders at restaurants. (Pig’s blood stew? Frog leg congee? Mmm. I think I’ll pass!) A few years ago, I took a vacation to China with my family. While we were there, I visited many herbal shops and markets. I am not kidding when I tell you that one of the medicine shops we visited was selling human placenta for soup-making purposes. Really! It’s believed that consuming the placenta will keep a person young.

Thankfully, a typical Chinese wedding banquet does not serve the human placenta or male deer.. umm… parts that I saw while in China. But there are a few dishes that may cause some non adventurous eaters to cringe. Most people, including myself, do not know the symbolism behind the dishes served at a Chinese banquet. Everything has a meaning!

For those of you who are having a Chinese banquet and want to provide an explanation of the dishes for your guests, I found a few helpful descriptions at http://www.chcp.org/banquet.html, a few of which I’ve copied and pasted below:

(Picture from Gastronomic Diary)

Vegetables with Sea Cucumber. Serving sea cucumber with vegetables is a sign of selflessness because “sea cucumber” sounds like “”good heart” and this dish wishes the couple to think in a similar way – to avoid conflict.

(Picture from Aroma Cookery)

Shark’s Fin Soup. Soup usually follows the appetizers. The type of soup has some significance, for example, shark’s fin soup indicates wealth because this delicacy is very expensive.

(Picture from Sun Sui Wah)

Squab (or Other Fowl). According to Shu Shu Costa, the author of Wild Geese and Tea, pigeon has tender meat that symbolizes peace. Usually two pigeons are offered to wish the newlyweds peace as they start their new life together. Squab (pigeon) is similar to quail, so they both probably symbolize peace. Quail is offered whole to each guest so each and every one will also experience a peaceful life. Serving fried chicken would wish the couple to have a good life because in Chinese “red chicken” sounds like “good life.”

(Picture from Aroma Cookery)

Sweet Red Bean Soup and Sweet Buns. Serving dessert probably wishes the newlyweds a sweet life. The hot sweet red bean soup should contain lotus seeds (lian zi) and a bark-like vegetable (bak hop) to wish the newlyweds a hundred years of togetherness. The sweet lotus paste in sweetened steamed bread symbolizes fertility; it is shaped and colored to resemble peaches (ta zi), since the peach represents long life. The sticky dumpling you describe, covered with crushed peanuts with black sesame paste in the center, is called mochi. (You might consider mochi with lotus paste or red bean paste for their symbolic value rather than black sesame paste.)

Happy eating, folks!