Tray of Togetherness

View large image With Lunar New Year creeping up, market vendors have broken out supplies in earnest.

When visiting relatives, it's customary for them to offer guests tea, along with a round or octagonal tray filled with a variety of treats, from nuts to sweets. This is known as chyuhn haap, or the Tray of Togetherness.

Traditionally, the tray was made of wood, with eight interior dishes of porcelain, but nowadays many people opt for plastic. I prefer the look of rosewood; it's much classier.

Colourful and rich with meaning, the tray usually contains an inner set of eight compartments to help keep the goodies separated. Each compartment is filled with a special symbolic food:

· Candy Melon (growth and good health)

· Coconut (unity)

· Kumquat (gold; for prosperity)

· Longan (many good sons)

· Lotus Seeds (fertility)

· Lychee Nut (close family relationships)

· Peanuts (longevity)

· Red Melon Seeds (red; for happiness, joy, honesty and sincerity)

Because the foods are symbolic, latitude is allowed in presentation. For example, some prefer to offer peanut-shaped chocolate wrapped in bright gold foil as an alternative to actual nuts. It keeps the kids happy.

The Tray of Togetherness is one of the best traditions associated with Lunar New Year.

Pass the kumquats.

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