Good Eats, Good Luck

If good fortune were as easy as eating the right foods, we would all be in luck. According to Chinese tradition, menus can be magic. And the time to embrace that philosophy of the palate is now. Feb. 7 marks the Chinese year of 4706.
The Year of the Rat begins with a feast of specific foods believed to bring wealth and abundance for the upcoming days.
“Everyone comes home for the new year,” says Nancy Chen, owner of Shangri-La restaurant in West Bloomfield Township, where the foods pictured here were prepared and photographed.
Chen says the symbolic dishes are served when families gather to dine and give thanks for the year past and the year just beginning. New Year meals include pigeon, chicken, fish, rice, duck, and desserts, with each representing an aspect of gratitude and fortune. Chen says the dessert is for good luck, while the round sesame balls are symbolic because of their gold-like color and sweet taste, which is said to foster a rich and plentiful year ahead.