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Millions across Asia – and Asian diasporas around the globe – celebrate the with celebrations lasting for weeks, centred around honouring ancestors, gathering with loved ones, and sharing traditional dishes. And while it is often known interchangeably as Chinese New Year, there are many other communities who mark this as the most important festival of the year.
Unlike the Western New Year, which follows the solar-based Gregorian calendar established by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and falls on a fixed date, the Lunar New Year aligns with the lunar cycle, usually occurring from late January to mid-February depending on the new moon.
Food plays a particularly important role in Lunar New Year festivities, offering a tangible link to heritage and an element of auspiciousness to the table, with many dishes believed to bring good luck, longevity and prosperity for the year ahead. Families often cook together, spending time catching up and sharing stories.
Three Sydney restaurant owner-chefs tell us about the most important Lunar New Year dish for their family table.
“Lunar New Year is one of the biggest traditional days for Korean people,” says Kidam Park, owner of in Strathfield. For Park, the essence of the tradition is clear – it’s a memorial celebrations for ancestors.
“It’s very important for all the family, we come together, we make food and we pray for our ancestors.”
Many Koreans dress in hanbok (traditional clothing), give gifts, and participate in charye, a ceremony where families show gratitude to their ancestors with a table of food offerings – the family the eats the food and asks for blessings from their ancestors for the coming year.
A signature dish for Korean Lunar New Year is , a soup made with oval-shaped rice cakes in a rich, savory broth. Park’s complex broth combines two different broth bases for a deeply comforting and flavoursome dish.
"For Korean New Year, normally we eat tteokguk, with rice cakes, some egg, a little bit of veggie… but our family and a few other families like dumplings, mandu… together there is more flavour,” says Park.
This New Year soup brims with auspiciousness – the whiteness of the rice cakes and soul symbolises a fresh start to the year, and the long rice noodles symbolise longevity – the act of eating this soup is associated with gaining a year of wisdom and age; when cut into disc-shaped slices, the coin-like rice cakes represent financial fortune.
In Vietnam, Lunar New Year is called Tết Nguyên Đán, or just Tết. Streets bloom with festive decorations, and families hold reunions that can last several days.
Just eating that one meal in harmony – harmony and happiness – it reflects for the whole year.
Ben Nguyen of Hai Au Lang Nuong in Canley Vale explains that many Vietnamese families cherish particular dishes that evoke nostalgia and a sense of belonging. Traditional foods at Tết vary by region and even by family, reflecting local produce and culinary customs.
“For me, Lunar New Year is a very special occasion for all the family to get together and eat,” Nguyen says. “Just eating that one meal in harmony – harmony and happiness – it reflects for the whole year.”
For him, this dish is special because it reminds him of his grandparents — “When I eat, I remember my Grandma and Grandpa.” When he was young, he hardly had the chance to eat it because this dish was typically reserved for the elders to eat. If the grandparents shared a leftover leg or thigh, "it was precious," Nguyen laughs.
Malaysia’s multicultural landscape makes Lunar New Year (commonly called Chinese New Year there) a grand affair. Large Chinese populations celebrate with lion dances, red envelopes (ang pau), and lavish reunion dinners. Most Malaysian Chinese follow the same lunar calendar dates observed in Mainland China, with the first two days designated as public holidays. However, the festivities can continue for two weeks, culminating in the Lantern Festival.
Credit: Kevin La
The dish that is very important for Thu, at a personal level, is – “a deep-fried crispy fish topped with a Nyonya sauce”, a sauce made with galangal, turmeric, ginger, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves and torch flower. It’s a dish that blends the migrated cuisine with local cuisine. 'Nyonya' cuisine is a hybrid of Chinese and Malay flavours – it’s fragrant with the fresh aromatics and enriched with a sweet and sour gravy.
Nyonya fish is “more than food”, says Thu – it’s tradition and love. It brings luck and symbolises abundance for the new year. This is a Lunar New Year staple for Thu, in honour of her Peranakan (mixed Chinese and Malay heritage) grandmother.
Nyonya fish is “more than food”, says Thu, "It’s tradition and love. It brings luck and symbolises abundance for the new year.
The Lunar New Year is a time honouring ancestors, nurturing family and sharing nostalgic and auspicious dishes. Whether it’s the savoury warmth of tteokguk in Korea, the fresh crunch of Grandma's chicken salad in Vietnam, or the tangy and crisp Nyonya fish in Malaysia, each meal tells a story of heritage and hope.
These interviews were done by content creator Kevin La @sydneyfoodboy as part of a with SBS Food.
