Although my family comes from Burma, many of our traditions are deeply rooted in Chinese culture, as my grandfather and my grandmother’s parents were originally from China. In Chinese culture, birthdays hold great significance - just as they do in many other cultures - but symbolism and food play an especially central role in these celebrations.
Last month, my pópo celebrated her 90th birthday, which was a cause for a grand celebration. In Chinese tradition, certain milestone birthdays are particularly important, including one month, 60 years, 80 years, 90 years, and 100 years old. These occasions are marked with large gatherings, either through a traditional Chinese banquet or a big party featuring an array of symbolic foods.
Fruit
Fruit platters can symbolize a prosperous year, with different fruits carrying specific meanings. Oranges and tangerines represent luck, fortune, and success for the year ahead, while peaches are associated with longevity.
For most Chinese birthday celebrations, longevity peach buns are traditionally served as dessert. These buns symbolize the peaches of immortality, inspired by the legend that immortal peaches ripen only once every thousand years, granting eternal life to those who eat them. For my pópo’s celebration, we opted for fresh peaches instead, honoring the tradition in a simple yet meaningful way.
Long Noodles, Long Life
In Chinese culture, noodles symbolize longevity, health, and happiness. This meaning dates back to the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wu believed that a long face was associated with a long life. Interestingly, the word for "face" in Mandarin sounds like the word for "noodles," further reinforces this tradition. As a result, noodles are commonly eaten during birthday celebrations and Lunar New Year festivities.
While longevity noodles traditionally refer to a specific type, I’ve seen many people substitute any long noodle to uphold the tradition. During my pópo’s celebration, we enjoyed long noodles tossed with Chinese sausage, shrimp, mung beans, and eggs. If you’re looking for a dish to include long noodles in your birthday celebration, our blog features an amazing glass noodles recipe with mushrooms and Chinese broccoli!
Leafy Greens
Another traditional food commonly found in Chinese celebrations- and really with any meal - is leafy greens. These greens symbolize growth, prosperity, and good fortune. They can include spinach, Bok Choy, Yu Choy, Gai Lan, Napa cabbage, Ong Choy, or any other leafy green. During our celebration, we had sautéed Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli) with garlic and oyster sauce.
Food plays an essential role in Chinese birthday celebrations, even if some dishes don’t have a direct symbolic meaning. My pópo’s favorite pastry is Nuo Mi Ci, also known as Lo Mai Chi - a mochi-like dessert made from glutinous rice flour, filled with peanuts, and coated in coconut. These treats are chewy, rich, and flavorful, and as a happy coincidence, they’re naturally vegan since they’re made with coconut milk. I made them myself for the party to include one of her favorite dishes, but they can also be found at Chinese bakeries. The recipe I used comes from the wonderful Chinese cookbook Mooncakes & Milk Bread by Kristina Cho. Some other great cookbooks can be found here in Chef’s Trevor’s post.
In my family, food is such an important part of any celebration, but this birthday party was especially symbolic and thoughtful.
We have an amazing Asian cooking class coming up called Hands-On Hot and Spicy: Fiery Asian Flavors on Wednesday, June 11 at 6pm or Friday, June 20 at 6pm. Join us to explore more Asian foods - if you can take the heat!
