What to eat on Lunar New Year's Day? Laha Festival traditional food introduction

Every year, the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, commonly known as Laha, is a traditional festival. As the saying goes, Laha is the New Year. After the Laha Festival, the official countdown to the Spring Festival begins, and families are busy celebrating the New Year. Each place has different customs on Laha Festival, including food and drink. So what should we eat on Laha Festival? Let's learn more about the traditional food of Laha.

1, Laha congee

Drinking Laha congee on Laha has become one of the main ways for people to celebrate Laha. The history of drinking Laha congee in China has been more than 1000 years. In the past, people used to talk about drinking Laha congee. After the Laha congee was ready, they had to offer sacrifices to the gods and ancestors first. If the congee was given to the poor, it was more for their own merits, so Laha congee was also called "Fude congee". The earliest Laha congee was made with red beans, which evolved and became more colorful with local characteristics. Nowadays, you can choose your favorite grains and cereals, increase or decrease at will, preferably more than eight, corresponding to the "eight", representing good luck.

2, cooking "five beans"

Some places, Lahai Festival to eat things called cooking five beans. From the name you can see that there are five kinds of beans, plus rice. When cooked, they can be eaten in one's own home and given to each other by neighbors. These beans herald a complete and happy New Year's life, and also pray for good weather and a good harvest in the coming year.

3, Lahai garlic

In most parts of northern China, the custom of soaking garlic in vinegar on the eighth day of the first month of Lunar New Year is called "Lahai garlic". With purple garlic and rice vinegar soaked garlic. The garlic cloves are removed from the skin, soaked in rice vinegar and sealed in small jars. The vinegar-soaked garlic will turn green and eventually turn completely green. After soaking, the pungency of the garlic itself becomes less pungent, slightly spicy and refreshing, and very appetizing. It's a great seasoning for dumplings and can also be served with cold dishes.

4, Lapa tofu

Lapa tofu is one of the traditional folk snacks in Yixian County, Anhui Province. On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, every family bakes tofu. Folk call this baked tofu as Laha tofu. The production process of Laha tofu is basically the same as that of ordinary tofu, but the finished product is extruded and specially seasoned, and then slowly baked under the mild winter sun, so that the salt is gradually absorbed and the water gradually dries up, that is, it is made into Laha tofu. The finished product is as yellow as jade, soft in the mouth, salty and sweet, fragrant and fresh.

5, Lahai noodles

In the Chengcheng area around the north of Shaanxi Wei, Lahai Festival generally do not drink congee. On the morning of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, every family has to eat several bowls of Laha noodles. Lapa noodles evolved from Lapa congee, so they are usually cooked with eight kinds of vegetables and unique meat and minced meat into a bowl of steaming noodles on the morning of Lapa.

6, Mairen Rice

Mairen rice is a traditional Qinghai cuisine. On the seventh night of the first day of the Lunar New Year, freshly ground wheat grains are boiled with beef and mutton, and green salt, ginger, pepper, grasshopper, Miao incense and other condiments are added. After a night of slow cooking, the wheat grain rice smells and tastes delicious. According to the legend of Qinghai, the eighth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the day when Siddhartha Gautama became a monk. Before he became a Taoist priest, a shepherdess offered food mincemeat and made porridge with fragrant grain fruits for the Buddha. That porridge was the wheat kernel porridge, which was later known as Laha congee in Qinghai.

7, Lapa beans

Lapa beans are one of the traditional foods in China's Hunan Province, with a history of hundreds of years. Lapa beans get their name from the fact that they are pickled in the month of Lunar New Year. Traditionally, steamed soybeans are placed in sealed containers and fermented and pickled using microorganisms present in nature. After the soybeans are pickled and fermented, they have a unique flavor and are easier to digest and absorb. Lapa beans are delicious and tasty, and they are good for cooking and stewing.