Eating a reunion dinner is the most lively and cheerful moment for every household on New Year's Eve in China. On New Year's Eve, there was a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner. The whole family got together and sat around the table, and people * * * had a "reunion dinner". At this moment, everyone's face, whether old people, children, men or women, is filled with happy laughter, and the sense of relief and satisfaction in my heart is beyond words. People are not only enjoying a sumptuous meal, but also enjoying a happy and festive atmosphere. The big dishes, cold dishes, stir-fried dishes, snacks, or various foods on the table all have beautiful meanings. In the south of China, there are generally two things, one is hot pot and the other is fish. Hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, symbolizing the prosperity of the coming year; "Fish" and "fish" are homophonic, symbolizing "more happiness and more celebration" and also meaning "more than one year"; There are also radishes, commonly known as vegetable heads. I wish you a good head; There are also fried foods such as lobster and fried fish. I wish my family a rich life, such as "cooking oil with fire", and unique sweets and wine. On New Year's Eve, even those who can't drink should drink a little.
In all parts of Shandong, the reunion dinner on New Year's Eve is even more lively, and the beautiful meanings of various delicious dishes can be described as rich and colorful. Rice cakes, jiaozi, reunion cakes, chicken, fish, mixed vegetables, pumpkins, taro, fried peanuts, New Year dishes and so on can be described as everything. Every kind of food has a beautiful meaning, or wishes family reunion, or reposes people's hopes for a better life in the coming year, or symbolizes people's pursuit of wealth, or wishes their families good health and all the best, and so on. Every household uses "reunion dinner".
Family is the cornerstone of society. "Reunion Dinner" is a family-based folk cultural activity. The annual "reunion dinner" fully shows the mutual respect and love among family members and the happiness of the family. This kind of mutual respect and love makes the relationship between families closer, and this kind of family happiness shows the traditional virtue of respecting the old and loving the young to the fullest. Family reunion often brings infinite comfort and satisfaction to the head of the family. The old man is full of children and grandchildren, and his family is surrounded by walls. The care and hard work of raising children in the past were not in vain. How happy and proud this is. The younger generation can also take this opportunity to express their gratitude to their parents for their parenting. Although "reunion dinner" is a Chinese New Year's eating activity, it has actually surpassed the general meaning of "eating" and has been promoted to a cultural entertainment and spiritual aesthetic activity. To be exact, the "reunion dinner" is a way for people to express the cultural psychology of all ethnic groups in China with the help of food activities in the New Year. Therefore, we say that the "reunion dinner" is first of all a carrier of the festival culture, which carries the cultural accumulation and cultural implication of the Chinese nation's "festival culture" for thousands of years. In this sense, it is almost impossible for hotels and restaurants to show the infinite charm of "reunion dinner" only by a few delicious dishes or by certain cooking techniques. No wonder people eat "reunion dinner" in hotels and restaurants, and they don't wait until the time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. Under normal circumstances, people will not stay for a long time in hotels and restaurants to have a "reunion dinner". They even come home at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, watching the Spring Festival Gala on TV, while busy wrapping jiaozi (some people buy ready-made jiaozi in hotels to take home). When the bell of the Gala strikes zero at midnight, they will go downstairs to wrap jiaozi and set off firecrackers to welcome the New Year.
Generally speaking, a table of traditional "reunion dinner" in Jiaodong has no delicacies, only some foods that can't be eaten often, such as rice cakes, jiaozi, reunion cakes, chicken, fish, assorted vegetables, pumpkins, taro, fried peanuts and other dishes. The key point is that every kind of food eaten at the "reunion dinner" on New Year's Eve has a certain beautiful meaning or symbolic significance. Sticky yellow rice must be used for rice cakes, which symbolizes the meaning of "getting better every year" and "rising step by step" in a better life; Needless to say, jiaozi, but on New Year's Eve, jiaozi will be wrapped in various mascots, such as coins, dates, chestnuts, peanuts, candy bars and so on. Each item has a beautiful symbolic meaning and can inspire people to be optimistic. Chicken and "Ji" are homophonic, symbolizing good luck; As we all know, the dishes cooked by fish are indispensable, and there is great hope that there will be more than one year. Many families even put hairtail in a bowl and steam it without a knife, which is called "circle blessing"; Pumpkin is called "golden melon" in Jiaodong. When housewives cut pumpkins, what they want to say in their mouths is just some auspicious folk songs wishing to make a fortune in the coming year, and its significance is self-evident; One of the most distinctive is the "reunion cake", which is made of ordinary fermented dough. Jujube and brown sugar are placed in the middle of the cake. The images of chicken, dog, dragon and tiger are made on the cake according to the animal signs of the family. It was steamed years ago and eaten on New Year's Eve. Everyone eats cakes belonging to their own zodiac sign to show family reunion and symbolize family reunion. Here are just some of the foods of the "reunion dinner" on New Year's Eve, which is already exciting. In fact, not only all kinds of food in the "reunion dinner" have beautiful meanings, but even cookers, utensils and fuel are exquisite, and we must never mess around. Strangely, among the restrictions of so many exquisite foods and articles, people feel the "taste of the year" is relaxed, happy, free-wheeling, and unconstrained. I didn't understand the truth of this problem until I was an adult. Although the traditional Chinese New Year Festival has many rules and etiquette, those rules and etiquette are people's pursuit of a better life, so it is easy to get * * * and recognition in people's hearts, so I don't feel constrained and inconvenient. Nowadays, eating "reunion dinner" in hotels and restaurants can't find such a feeling. It's no wonder why people have a "reunion dinner" on such a beautiful New Year's Eve, but they don't want to stay there for one night. Because, in hotels and restaurants, in addition to rich food, what is lacking is real "taste" and "interest". In short, that is to say, there is a lack of folk culture that should belong to the "New Year".
Technical display of food culture
It doesn't matter whether the "reunion dinner" is delicious or not, or whether it has superb cooking skills. The key question is whether the "reunion dinner" carries more "flavor of the year". Of course, this is not to say that cooking is insignificant in the eating activities of "reunion dinner", but on the contrary. Superb cooking is an effective means to show the food culture of the New Year Festival. Without the artistic expression of cooking skills, all kinds of "reunion dinner" food will lose its beautiful shape and attractive taste, thus losing its aesthetic taste. It used to be popular only in rural areas, but now it is also popular in major cities and has become a hot commodity in the New Year. What is the reason? Its delicacy is not much different from the daily steamed bread, but I think the attraction is precisely its beautiful and auspicious shape and aesthetic interest displayed through cooking skills. The beautiful and auspicious shape of New Year's food itself contains infinitely rich cultural information and cultural entertainment elements, so it can become one of the most eye-catching scenery in the New Year, which is manifested in effective cooking skills. As the "reunion dinner" is a cultural carrier and the cooking skill is the embodiment of Chinese New Year's food culture, our hotels and restaurants only regard it as a timely banquet, paying attention to the grade, variety, price positioning and restaurant service of its dishes, but just ignoring the core content of the "reunion dinner", that is, the taste of folk culture. I think this is giving up everything. Therefore, although most people are willing to have a "reunion dinner" in hotels and restaurants for the New Year, they don't really want to go to hotels and restaurants to find the "taste of the year" they deserve, but just to avoid the trouble of working at home after people's living standards improve.
Therefore, we believe that "reunion dinner" is a real cultural brand full of infinite charm and a cultural selling point with great market potential. If we can make and design the "reunion dinner" from the perspective of folk culture and operate it from the market height of brand operation, it will be infinitely huge and eventually become a "Christmas dinner" with China cultural characteristics, which is very possible. The reason why the "reunion dinner" should be managed as a cultural brand is because our "New Year" is not just a "New Year's Eve", it is a full-time holiday. Many hotels and restaurants only focus on the "reunion dinner" of the New Year's Eve, without planning and designing from the brand structure and a series of banquets.
The "reunion dinner" on New Year's Eve is only a part of the traditional "Chinese New Year" eating activities, even a small part. In China's cities and towns, the time limit of the Spring Festival is calculated by one week of national legal holidays, so the consumption space of its diet should be said to be quite large. Therefore, the design of "reunion dinner" should be serialized and scaled, and a variety of "reunion dinner" series products should be created based on the rich and colorful cultural heritage of the Spring Festival. In addition to the "New Year's Eve", you can also design a series of Chinese New Year banquets. Traditional reunion dinner
There is no doubt that the "reunion dinner" with only cultural content is meaningless. Because all kinds of food in the "reunion dinner" are carriers of folk culture, and the material carrier is the basis of the "reunion dinner". Therefore, the design and collocation of a table of "reunion dinner" gourmet dishes is very important and should not be too casual. The application of all kinds of food of "reunion dinner" needs to consider not only the beautiful implication of the food itself, but also the type, quality, grade, luxury, cooking skills, modeling effect, color aesthetics and so on. In today's pursuit of healthy diet, the coordination of nutrition can not be ignored.
The traditional "reunion dinner" can ignore the nutritional collocation and scientific collocation. All the food on the table is based on the traditional food in Qing Ji. For example, the southern "reunion dinner" mentioned above must include hot pot, fish, glutinous rice balls, radishes and other foods. In northern China, "reunion dinner" is essential, such as rice cakes, jiaozi, reunion cakes, chicken, fish, pumpkin and other dishes. From this point of view, the traditional "reunion dinner", whether in the south or the north, mainly considers their beautiful implication in the use of food. Nowadays, hotels and restaurants should not only take care of the rational use of some foods symbolizing auspiciousness, but also combine the latest scientific achievements and scientific and technological elements in their diet. In the "reunion dinner" that has been formed for thousands of years, it has incorporated a strong flavor of the times. For example, some hotels even offer "Hong Kong-style New Year's Eve Dinner" and "Christmas Eve New Year's Eve Dinner", which is a combination of Chinese and Western styles. That's a good idea.
Of course, when designing a series of family reunion dinners with the theme of "reunion dinner", we should not only make full use of all kinds of auspicious foods, but also fully combine them with modern banquets to design a theme banquet that highlights the characteristics of raw materials, local flavor and folk culture and adapts to different family units (such as three-person rooms and multi-person rooms). Even in the application and design of auspicious food, the integration of tradition and modernity can be realized. For example, it is interesting to replace the traditional homemade "reunion cake" with cream cake and carve the image of the zodiac with cream. Foreign Chinese have a reunion dinner.
It is easier to outsource the reunion dinner.
Life in the city is so tight that even the annual reunion dinner has become a headache. In recent years, there has been a trend of outsourcing reunion dinners in the local area. Many catering contractors who originally closed down on New Year's Eve saw this business opportunity, continued to cook on New Year's Eve, provided take-away service for the reunion dinner, and delivered plates of delicious and auspicious New Year's Eve dinner to every household.
Christon Food Company began to provide reunion dinner service a few years ago, and its orders have increased by dozens of percentage points year by year. In the first year of its launch, it received more than 50 orders, compared with more than 200 orders in previous years, which shows that this is a big market. Despite the great demand, Smile Orchid, another reunion dinner contracting company, only accepts 20 orders at most on New Year's Eve in order to let employees go home for the New Year as soon as possible.
Lighten mom's burden
Malaysian Lin, who works locally, plans to outsource the reunion dinner to food contractors this year. On New Year's Eve, her family will come to Singapore from the other side to reunite with her. She said, "Mom may be very tired when she comes from Malaysia. Busy with work, no time to prepare. It's much easier to find a food supplier to do it for me. I like cooking very much, but I just have no time! " Because I miss my mother's cooking, she will ask her mother to cook one or two delicious dishes besides the outsourced ones. So instead of ordering the whole set meal, she chose to outsource a few dishes to alleviate her mother's hard work.
In terms of price, Lin feels that many foods and materials will increase in price during the peak season of the Spring Festival, and even cooking by oneself may not be more economical. Kriston and Smiling Orchid, two food companies that provide outsourcing services for reunion dinner, were interviewed by reporters. The former provides two sets of reunion dinner packages, the prices are 288 yuan and 388 yuan respectively (8 people to 10 people), while the latter provides a set meal for each person 12 yuan to 30 yuan.
Comfortable and labor-saving
From the most traditional cooking at home, to eating reunion dinner in restaurants, and then ordering reunion dinner from food contractors, the way China local families eat reunion dinner can be said to have gone through three stages. The evolution of the reunion dinner also reflects the changes in the lifestyle of modern China people.
Chen Baozhu, managing director of Christon, grew up in a big family when he was a child. Preparing a reunion dinner is a huge project, and it often takes a whole day from buying food and preparing materials to cooking. "Although fun but also very tired. When you can finally sit down to eat, you often lose your appetite. The thought of cleaning after meals will affect some people's mood. In fact, having a reunion dinner at home is about building feelings, and whether the food is good or not is secondary. "
It is convenient to have a reunion dinner in a restaurant, but many people have had unpleasant experiences. The restaurant is full on New Year's Eve. General restaurants will try to arrange family reunion dinners twice a night, and the meal time is limited. In addition, the waiters all want to call it a day and go home for the New Year. The service quality is relatively low, so the reunion dinner is often very stressful.
Guo, the person in charge of Smiling Orchid, also mentioned that elderly people with mobility difficulties can't go to restaurants for a reunion dinner. The advantage of "outsourcing" is that you can eat comfortably at home, which not only retains the traditional meaning but also saves trouble. Chen Baozhu said: "We (catering contractors) don't want to compete with restaurants, but offer you one more choice."
In previous years, Lin went back to his hometown to make a reunion dinner. "I don't like going to restaurants for family reunion dinner. Reunion at home is less formal and more private. Adults will give out red envelopes after eating, which is very festive. I think I am still very old-fashioned. " She admits that ordering a reunion dinner from the catering contractor is not the best reunion dinner mode in her mind, but it is a good second choice. The menu of reunion dinner introduced by catering contractors is mainly traditional auspicious New Year dishes, and fish, shrimp and chicken dishes are naturally indispensable. For example, Smile Orchid's New Year dishes include Emperor Chicken (medicinal chicken), Golden Rooster rosary, Xixihaha (Kung Pao prawn), Babao duck and the most popular rich salmon raw.
In order to take care of the dietary tastes of different age groups, Kriston not only introduced Chinese food, but also Japanese sushi and roasted eel. Western-style pasta and cheese belt; Indian tandoori shrimp, banana leaf spicy grilled fish and other dishes. Chen Baozhu pointed out that the older generation pays attention to the omen and implication of dishes, while the younger generation likes new dishes that combine Chinese and western styles. "When it comes to reunion dinner, people always think of their parents and elders first, and then consider their younger generation. Therefore, when designing the menu, we mainly use traditional dishes and prepare a series of new dishes and exotic flavors for subscribers to choose from. "
When choosing dishes, Lin is very interested in exotic flavors, especially wanting to order meat pies and Indian curries. But she will give priority to her parents' preferences. In addition, because the catering contractor prepares food in advance, she will choose some dishes that can be heated and avoid fried foods, because these foods will lose their original crispy and delicious taste over time.
Small family versus big family
Xiaolan takes the familiar traditional Chinese free meal form. It is aimed at companies, offices and large families, and the number of people must be at least 30. Guo said: "Calling a buffet can invite more relatives to reunite. More people are more lively and meaningful."
Christon's goal is a small family of 8 to 10 people. Chen Baozhu said that it is mainly young families who order reunion dinners-because they are not sure about preparing food for 10 people, and most maids can't cook traditional dishes, so they like to find food contractors to do it for them. In order to make it more convenient for subscribers, Kriston puts food in plastic containers that can be heated by microwave oven and delivers it to the door with specially designed insulation bags (plastic containers and insulation bags belong to subscribers). The sauce of the food is packaged separately, and it is not poured until the meal. Subscribers can freely set dishes and still maintain the traditional form of having a reunion dinner around a big table. However, even the best delicacies in plastic boxes will be eclipsed. It is best to put dishes into exquisite porcelain dishes and bowls by hand to achieve the ideal reunion effect with all colors and flavors.
In addition to providing delicious food, some catering contractors will also provide some New Year decorations and arrangements. Smiling Orchid will set up a small booth for customers to hang various New Year decorations and decorate the dining table with golden rooster decorations to create a New Year atmosphere.