1, glutinous dumplings

On the Lantern Festival, people in the south eat dumplings, which means family reunion and happiness.

Tangyuan is glutinous rice flour mixed with water to make glutinous rice skin, then put in various fillings prepared in advance, usually dried fruits and fruits with vegetable oil, such as peanuts, sesame seeds, walnuts, etc., and finally wrap the glutinous rice bag to form a ball.

2. Lantern Festival

On the Lantern Festival, northerners want to eat Yuanxiao. Speaking of Yuanxiao, many people think that glutinous rice balls are Yuanxiao. In fact, Yuanxiao and Tangyuan are actually two things, although there is little difference in raw materials and appearance. The most essential difference lies in the production process. Making glutinous rice balls is relatively simple. Generally, glutinous rice flour is mixed with water to make skin, and then the stuffing is "wrapped". The making of Yuanxiao is much more complicated: firstly, the dough needs to be mixed, and the solidified stuffing is cut into small pieces. After being watered once, it is thrown into a basket filled with glutinous rice flour and rolled, while sprinkling water until the stuffing is covered with glutinous rice flour and rolled into a ball.

3. Lettuce

Guangdong people like to "steal" lettuce and cook it with cakes during the Lantern Festival. It is said that this kind of food represents auspiciousness. Cantonese people are calm and down-to-earth, and they have the best intentions for festivals. Lettuce, which is most commonly used in festive occasions such as the opening of new stores, is also an essential holiday item for the Lantern Festival. Lettuce, which often becomes a common vegetable in the southern dining table, is homophonic with "making money", so it is also regarded as a festive thing symbolizing wealth and good fortune.

4. Lantern Festival tea

Shaanxi and other places have the custom of eating Yuanxiao tea during the Lantern Festival. Although it is called Yuanxiao tea, it is not directly related to Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao tea is made by adding various fruits and vegetables to hot noodle soup. After eating greasy food such as big fish and big meat during the Chinese New Year, eating this kind of Yuanxiao tea rich in vitamins, dietary fiber and minerals on the fifteenth day of the first month can alleviate the greasy feeling.

5. Camellia oleifera

Eating on the night of the Lantern Festival, the ground says "fifteen flat, sixteen yuan", one day to eat jiaozi, one day to eat Yuanxiao; In the mountainous area, it is "fifteen dozen camellia oleifera, sixteen pinch flat food". It is the so-called "ten miles of different customs." Making tea is to stir the tea noodles with chopsticks to make camellia oleifera, also known as noodle tea.

6. Oil hammer

In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, rice porridge or bean porridge with gravy was used as the festive food for the Lantern Festival. However, this food is mainly used for sacrifices, and it is not a holiday food. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that Zheng Wangzhi's "The Record of the Chef" recorded: "Dieting in the middle of the year, going to the oil hammer." The method of making an oil hammer is similar to the fried Yuanxiao of future generations, according to a record in Shangshi Order quoted from Taiping Guangji and Lushi Miscellanies. Some people call it "the pearl of oil painting".

7. jiaozi

On the fifteenth day of the first month, people in the north have the habit of eating jiaozi, while people in Henan have the custom and tradition of "fifteen flat and sixteen round" for the Lantern Festival, so they should eat jiaozi on the fifteenth day of the first month. Jiaozi is a kind of folk food with a long history, which is very popular among the people. There is a saying among the people that "it's delicious but not as good as jiaozi".

8, jujube cake

People in western Henan like to eat jujube cakes during the Lantern Festival, which means good luck. Jujube cake was originally an imperial cake in the Qing Dynasty. It is fragrant and sweet, and contains nutrients such as vitamin C, protein, calcium, iron and vitamins, which can not only tonify the spleen and stomach, but also benefit qi and promote fluid production. It also has the effects of protecting the liver, increasing muscle strength, caring skin and preventing aging.

9. Sticky cake

Sticky cake is also called rice cake. In addition to Yuanxiao and noodles, there are people who eat sticky cakes during the Lantern Festival. Sun Simiao, a famous doctor in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in "Prescription to Prepare for a Urgent Need, Food Treatment" that "self-nourishing rice is sweet, slightly cold, non-toxic, heat-removing, and qi-invigorating." After the Tang Dynasty, there were also records of eating cakes during the Lantern Festival in the Yuan Dynasty.

10, face lamp

From the Han Dynasty, it was a custom to light a noodle lamp. Many people don't know what it is, but it is actually a lamp made of flour, also known as a noodle lamp, which is mainly a custom in northern China. There are many shapes of surface lamps. Generally, 12 lamps will be made, and 13 lamps will be made in leap years. Cooking oil will be put in the lamps, and then they will be lit. This is the surface lamp. The lights during the Lantern Festival have auspicious meanings and can ward off diseases and ward off evil spirits. Because the ancient science was not developed, the noodle lamp was used to predict the water and drought situation in the next twelve months of the year with the amount of cooking oil left inside after the noodle lamp was extinguished, and the noodle lamp was steamed and eaten on the 16th day of the first month. In some places, the surface lamp is steamed in a pot, and after steaming, the amount of water remaining in the surface lamp is predicted.

1 1, bean dough

People in Kunming like to eat bean dough, which is similar to Yuanxiao. They stir-fry beans and grind them, then make them into balls and cook them with water. It tastes good.

12, bad soup

People in the vicinity of Taizhou, Zhejiang Province eat salty bad soup on the 14th day of the first month, and sweet bad soup with food in the first month. Bad soup, also called mountain flour paste, is a Lantern Festival food in Taizhou and belongs to one of the traditional snacks. They eat bad soup after watching lanterns on the 14th day of the first month. Bad soup can be divided into salty and sweet, mainly using lotus root starch, rice flour or potato flour as the main ingredient, and then adding your favorite ingredients to make your favorite taste.

13, steamed bread, wheat cake

There is a custom of eating steamed bread and wheat cakes in Pujiang, Zhejiang Province during the Lantern Festival. It is said that the reason is that the steamed bread is made of dough and the wheat cake is round, which means "a happy reunion of the hair and grandchildren". In Shangyuan County, Changde, Hunan Province, pepper is used as soup, and leeks and fruits are added to entertain guests, which is called "time soup".

14, noodles

There is a folk proverb in Jiangbei area, which says, "Go to Lantern Festival, leave noodles behind, and look forward to next year after eating them." Local people want to eat noodles on the fifteenth night of the first month, which sounds irrelevant to Lantern Festival, but it also means praying for good luck. "Records of the Year of the Emblem" contains: "On the 18th day of the first month, the lights went down, and people spat on their faces. As the saying goes,' When the lights went up, the lights went down', and each family celebrated for itself." Eating noodles when the lights are off symbolizes the meaning of continuous celebration.