New Year is one of the most celebrated times of the year in Asian culture and it brings back many memories for us! As long as we can remember, the Huynh kids (7 of us + our parents) stayed up very late as a family celebrating the start of a new year & shedding of the old. The festivity intimately involves praying and offering our deities & ancestors many delicious foods. Those lucky ducks!
Check out the beautiful Cherry Blossom trees with ‘red lucky money’ hanging off the branches — signifying great luck & fortune ‘raining’ down on us!
This always includes lots of sweets such as candied lotus seeds, melon seeds, ginger slices, papaya strips, glutinous rice balls, sesame balls and more. All sorts of fruit too! Tangerines, red apples, pears, grapes, dragon fruits, and melons.
Savory, salty items include Chinese Sausage, dried duck, fresh-whole fish aka (“yi”), shrimps (“ha”), Squid (“yah yu”) & crabs (“hai”).
Banh Chung – in our house, a unanimous favorite, is New Year’s sweet rice cake!
All of these food items have special meanings referencing the happy celebration of life.
- Ha (shrimp) symbolizes “haha or happy”
- Yau Yu (squid) symbolizes “care-free”
- Hai (crab) symbolizes “openness”
Of course the most significant “food” to the Saucey Sauce family is “Yi” or ”Yi Lu” which is fish sauce.
The sound of the word means a “water channel” that provides a “water way/water path“ to success and high achievement in life and business!
From our family to yours- we wish you a very happy New Year filled with much “Yi Lu” and love!
Ken & Toan Huynh
Bro/Sis Co-founders
