How to Select Food for a Chinese Wedding Banquet

Much thought goes into planning a Chinese wedding banquet. The foods that the bridal couple serves convey deep meaning, such as happiness, longevity and fertility.

Things You'll Need

• Chinese Noodles
• Red Bean Soup
• Squab
• Ducks
• Pigs
• 7-Ups

Instructions

1. Serve an eight-course meal, plus dessert. The word "eight" in Chinese sounds like "good luck."

2. Begin with appetizers such as dragon phoenix plates. These are cold plates with sliced meats, jelly fish, and chilled nuts.

3. Follow with sharkskin soup. This expensive delicacy is a sign of wealth.

4. Offer lobster and chicken as choices, since this combination represents the balance between male and female.

5. Serve roast suckling pig, since pork is a symbol for virginity.

6. Provide Peking duck, since the red color signifies happiness. Consider serving this dish with the legs and head intact to represent completeness. (The same is true of the lobster.)

7. Bring out pigeons or squab as a sign of peace as you begin your new marriage.

8. Prepare vegetables with sea cucumber to represent selflessness. The words "sea cucumber" sound like "good heart" in Chinese, which will help you and your spouse to think similarly and avoid conflict.

9. Consider serving fish since the word sounds like "plentiful" in Chinese.

10. Bring out noodles at the end of the meal as an additional course. The long noodle strands represent longevity.

11. Remember to include dessert because this will help to ensure a sweet life for you and your spouse. Offer the following choices: hot sweet red bean soup with lotus seeds and bak hop (a bark-like vegetable) to ensure that your marriage lasts for 100 years, and steamed bread sweetened with lotus paste as a sign of fertility.

Tips & Warnings

• Ask the waiters to bring around take-out boxes so the guests can bring the leftovers home. This is expected at a Chinese wedding because it signifies abundance and also avoids wasting good food.

• Serve 7-Up, which sounds like "seven happiness" in Chinese, along with tea and alcohol for guests to drink.