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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
6 Min
24/02/2026
With some gruelling years that never seem to ease, one could use some luck, and the Chinese New Year 2026 is the perfect occasion to usher in luck, as it’s the year of the horse. This emblem stands for optimism and opportunity, which comes after the transformative year of the snake. There are specific Chinese dishes considered lucky, especially around this time. Dive in to know more.
According to Chinese New Year traditions, 2026 is the year of the horse. Different parts of the world celebrate in their own way, but this is a time to gather with family, honour ancestors and usher in good fortune for the coming year. Celebrations span over a week, with Indian colonies like those in Kolkata’s Chintatown in Tangra and Tiretty Bazar coming alive with golden and red hues during this time. As is common with any celebration, food plays a central role. Here are Chinese dishes and specific ingredients considered auspicious, lucky and known to bring in fortune.
Chinese families like to end the year with something left over because of the belief that if you have a surplus at year’s end, you can make more in the year ahead. Some fish are, thus, deliberately left uneaten and consumed in the New Year. In other regions, the head and tail are saved until after midnight, expressing hope for a year that starts and ends with abundance. The species chosen matters too – crucian carp sounds like ‘good luck’, catfish sounds like ‘year surplus’, and mud carp echoes the word for ‘gifts’.
A whole chicken, be it braised or roasted, is served with head and feet still attached, as one of the lucky Chinese dishes. In Cantonese, the word for chicken is a homophone for both ‘luck’ and ‘prosperity’. Serving it whole, rather than jointed, symbolises unity and a year that is complete from beginning to end. Traditionally, the chicken is first offered to ancestors before the family eats. The feet are typically given to the family breadwinner, since the Cantonese word for ‘grab’ sounds like the word for talons.
Dumplings have been eaten at New Year’s for over 1,800 years and are especially popular in northern China. No wonder this is one of the most widely known Chinese dishes worldwide. Their half-moon shape is modelled on ancient Chinese gold ingots, and the belief is simple – the more dumplings you eat, the more money you'll make in the new year. Families tend to make them together before the big meal. Fillings vary by household and region, from minced pork and shrimp to vegetables and chicken. They can be boiled, steamed, fried, or baked.
The Chinese love their phonetics, and Niangao or glutinous rice cake sounds like ‘getting higher year-on-year’. This means different things to different people; for business owners, it implies that their business performance improves year after year and that their overall lives are improving. This could also extend to kids growing taller, getting better grades, and for adults, getting promotions and more. This Chinese dish is made from glutinous rice, sugar, Chinese dates, chestnuts, and lotus leaves. It comes in sweet and savoury versions depending on the region, and can be eaten plain, pan-fried, or steamed.
Also known as changshou mian, or chung-show myen, these are one of the Chinese dishes that are slurpworthy, like the Tibetan thukpa. These noodles are longer than usual and, crucially, must not be cut, either before or during eating. Their unbroken length symbolises the eater’s lifespan, so severing them is considered a bad omen. Eaten mainly on New Year's Day in northern China, they are served either fried on a plate or boiled in broth. Cooks handle them carefully to keep them whole, and diners eat them with the same mindfulness.
Tangyuan are small, round glutinous rice dumplings filled with sesame paste, red bean paste, or peanut paste, and served in a warm broth. Their round shape represents wholeness and reunion. The name itself, when spoken aloud, sounds like the phrase for ‘group together, round and complete’, a direct expression of the wish for the family to be gathered in one place. Though they are the main food of the Lantern Festival that closes the New Year season, families in southern China eat them throughout the celebrations.
These are Cantonese dim sum spring rolls, one of the most widely known Chinese dishes, named for the Spring Festival they're traditionally associated with. They are especially popular in eastern and southern China, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. Thin dough wrappers filled with vegetables, meat, or something sweet are rolled into cylinders and deep-fried until golden. That gold colour is the whole point – the rolls are said to resemble gold bars, and eating them is a wish for prosperity.
What stands out about Lunar New Year food traditions is how little is left to chance. Every dish at the table has been chosen for a reason, with its sound, shape, or colour doing specific symbolic work. Taken together, these Chinese dishes make up a quiet expression of everything a family hopes the coming year will bring. The traditions have lasted not because they guarantee anything, but because gathering around a table and eating with intention is, in itself, a way of making the new year matter.
