eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.

How To

How to Select Food for a Chinese Wedding Banquet

Contributor
By eHow Contributing Writer
(13 Ratings)

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.

From Quick Guide: Chinese Food
Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • Chinese Noodles
  • Red Bean Soup
  • Squab
  • Ducks
  • Pigs
  • 7-Ups
  1. Step 1

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

  2. Step 2

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

  3. Step 3

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

  4. Step 4

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

  5. Step 5

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

  6. Step 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. Step 7

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

  8. Step 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. Step 9

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

  10. Step 10

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

  11. Step 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.

Post a Comment

Post a Comment
  • Have you done this? Click here to let us know.
I Did This

Related Ads

Get Free Weddings Newsletters

Copyright © 1999-2009 eHow, Inc. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the eHow Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.   en-US Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.

Demand Media
eHow_eHow Parties and Entertaining