Travel Series| Orient Diary (Part 1) Lunar New Year!

Now that the holidays are over and its back to work, everyone in the Far East decides its best to start getting Chinese New Year ready. Brilliant. Whether you celebrate it or not, know people who celebrate it, or have never heard of it, hopefully this post will encourage you to go to your nearest Chinatown and sample some yummy foodz!

Disclaimer: None of these pictures are mine, all found on the internet!

Jiao Zi: Dumplings, or guo tie (potstickers), or shuijiao (water boiled dumpings). Originating from northern Chinese provinces, its one of the major foods eaten during Chinese New Year all around the world. While my family doesn’t have an age-old dumpling recipe like many other Northern Chinese families, we enjoy it all the same.

Click here for the recipe ;) 

 Rou Gan: Chinese beef jerky. While the various Chinese communities across China, Hong Kong and south-east Asia eat variations of it, there’s no doubt that everyone enjoys it just as much.

Visit here for some of the most mouth-watering pictures you'll ever see

Hot pot! While not limited to Chinese New Year, hotpot has its most significance during the period. It symbolises ties of reunion, willingness to share, and most importantly, bonding over food—something that every Chinese family and individual is incredibly passionate about. The cultural significance of the hot pot may be strong, but its ability to cure your combined cravings of soup, meat, vegetable and rice all at once is even stronger.

Go here for a list of some hot pot places in London! It doesn't include one of my favourites though- Suki in Chinatown has three levels, and the topmost level does Japanese style shabu-shabu, similar to hotpot. Its great great fun and pretty inexpensive and fresh and good quality. 

Are there other CNY foods you love? Let me know :) x