The Chinese prefer to combine gourmet food with festivals and important occasions. The most interesting part of cuisine culture lies in the feast offered on various occasions, including festivals, birthday parties, weddings, funerals.

Jiao zi ( Chinese Dumplings)
Dumpling is the representative of Chinese traditional food, which is indispensable in Northen China household during the holidays. Because it is shaped like the ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots, dumpling symbolizes wealth. In the New Year's Eve, all family members try to gather to have the reunion banquet. People may hide a coin in dumpling when they make it, and the people who find the coin will likely to make a fortune in the coming near year.

Dumpling can be filled in various stuffings, and the most typical flavor is the chopped leek and pork. Steaming, boiling or pan-frying all are good methods to cook dumpling. The authentic way to eat is dipping the dumpling a little into the mature vinegar as dressing.

On the other hand, dumpling can be a fast food with good nutrition. You will not have top cook other dishes when you plan to eat dumpling expect for big occasions. It already has the rich content inside! Today, people will find different kinds of deep-frozen dumplings in supermarket.

Nian Gao (New Year Cake)
It is Southerners' favorite New Year food in the round shape, which is made of sticky rice flour and brown sugar, or meat and spring onion. In Chinese, 'Gao' has the same pronunciation with the word meaning 'High', and 'Nian' means year. So 'Nian Gao' is a symbolization for gaining improvement in life year by year. What's more, the round shape means family reunion.

Zong zi
A traditional food of Dragon Boat Festival. Generally speaking, Zongzi is a sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves, but each region of China has its own form of Zongzi. For example, in Southern China , you will find fat pork soaked in soy sauce or bean paste in the middle of the sticky rice. Meanwhile, Beijing Zongzi often uses dry dates as filling, and there is also plain Zongzi. The most common shape of Zongzi is pyramidal or triangular.

Making Zongzi can be challengeable. People should make the bamboo or reed leaves into a funnel shape and place the rice inside, and then use the straw or thread fasten it.

Moon cake
Moon cake is the most popular food in Mid-autumn Festival. It is a kind of cookie with fillings of lotus seed, the yolk of preserved eggs, apricot kernel, olive kernel, green pea, sesame, dry mushroom, shrimp, tangerine peel, lemon leaves, and so on, which can mainly be classified into salty and sweet. The different patterns are on the surface of the cake, such as the clouds, moon and flowers. The skin of the cake is yellow, thin and soft, and the whole cake looks like a full moon.

Tang yuan
Tang yuan looks like a white mini ball made of sticky rice and either sweet or salty fillings. Sweet fillings are often made of sugar, peanut, sesame, osmanthus flowers, bean paste, dry date paste, etc. The salty ones are filled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture. This is a special snack on the fifteenth day of the Spring Festival for its symbolization of family unity.