Probably more food is consumed during the New Year celebrations than any other time of the year. Vast amounts of traditional food is prepared for family and friends as well as those close to us who have died.
On New Year's Day the Chinese family will eat a vegetarian dish called jai. Although the various ingredients in jai are root vegetables or fibrous vegetables many people attribute various superstitious aspects to them.
Other foods include a whole fish to represent togetherness and abundance and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head tail and feet to symbolize completeness. Noodles should be uncut as they represent long life.
In south China the favorite and most typical dishes were nian gao sweet steamed glutinous rice（糯米）pudding and zong zi (glutinous rice wrapped up in reed（芦苇）leaves) another popular delicacy.
In the north steamed-wheat bread (man tou) and small meat dumplings were the preferred food. The tremendous amount of food prepared at this time was meant to symbolize abundance and wealth for the household.