As you can imagine with the biggest Chinese holiday of the year, food's gonna play a great part of its sander/sender. In China, food is never simply food, it's always invested with heavy symbolic meanings especially at a holiday like. This is my guide that navigates me through is Belinda Wang here.

What is it that Chinese people everyone eats at a time like this?

Well this is what every Chinese family has for New Year. It's "go" (糕). And the name "go" means "bo bo go sing" (步步高升) which means (for) everything rises in the New Year and advancement in your career, in your wealth, and in your health.

Ok, well, let's get a shopping bag and you can lead me through it, see what I need for the New Year.

Sure, my pleasure.

Nuts and seeds are very important for New Year. Now we have this black melon seeds which is very nice. (Oh, yeah.)Try one. And the action of you picking them up and eating them constantly is like picking up money all the time and eating them. So that I'll put one in the basket.

Ok.

What about these ones?

These are really happy-happy-nuts because pistachios in Cantonese is happy-happy.

So this ensures a happy year of the dog.

Yes, yes.

What about? What's that?Peanuts.

You know peanuts stand for longevity. So you'll have a long life in the New Year.

And, and this?

And this is, this means lots of sons.

Lots of sons? What are they?

Lotus seeds. You can use them for sweets and also for soups.

So if you want to have lots of sons in this year. You'd better have more of them.

Yeah, thank you.

This is called "yuyi" (如意) which the literal meaning is everything as you wish in the New Year.

It looks disgusting.

No, if cooked properly, it's really delicious.

Really? I'll take your offer, but I'll check that all in the basket.

Now those two are, are our New Year's favorites. This one is black moss, hair vegetable.

Hairy vegetable?

Yes. It looks like our hair.

Ok,what~and what's good luck about this?

Now this ,it it~sounds exactly the same as "gung hei fat choi" (恭喜发财), "fat choi" (发菜). So it means prosperity and making lots of wealth.

And what you do, make soup out of it or something?

You you make stews, you make conjee, you make soups out of it.

Alrighty, you would do your recommendation.

Highly recommended.

So ... and what's er..?

And this is dried oysters which is "hao shi" (好市) is good market.

Good market....doing well in the market in the New Year. Yes, yes.

Well, both in terms of my belly, and in terms of my good luck, I'm gonna have many children, long life, I'm gona be very happy and everything's gonna rise in the New Year.

Exactly.

So. Thank you very much. Gung hei fat choi. Gung hei fat choi.