Reunion dinner


A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve of the Chinese and Vietnamese New Years, during which family members get together to celebrate. It is often considered the most important get-together meal of the entire year.

Typical menu

The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes dumplings, chicken, and pork. Fish is also included, but intentionally not finished, and the remaining fish is stored overnight. The reason for this stems from a pun, as the Chinese phrase 年年有魚/餘; is a homophone for phrases which mean "be blessed every year" or "have abundant profit every year". Similarly, a type of black hair-like algae, "fat choy", is also featured in many dishes since its name sounds similar to "prosperity". Hakka will serve "kiu nyuk" 扣肉 and "ngiong tiu fu" 釀豆腐. The belief is that having one will lead to the other, as the phrases sound similar to one another.