Eating Tradition 🍱 is A Burden ?!!

Hi everyone! As all of you grow up, do you still remember any childhood memory about eating traditions or the best meal that you had?

Let’s calm down and think about it.

My name is Bee🐝. I was born in a family with different culture and tradition. My dad is a handsome Chinese man while my mom is a very kind-hearted native woman. While I was growing up, I was exposed to different eating traditions and different foods in my family.

And you want to know something? Actually it is quite stress to live in a multicultural family because I need to learn everything but everything is really fun and interesting. HAHAHAHAHH!!

So, today, I want to share with you guys one of the eating traditions and the best meal that I ever had in my life for both of my parents’ culture.

As you know, my dad is a typical Chinese man. So, he is very strict in the eating tradition. My dad is very busy so he only can spend his time with us during dinner. Before we start to enjoy our food, the youngest in my family (me) must prepare the cutlery and place it near the plates. Then, we need to wait for everyone to sit on the chair and get ready for dinner. We are not allowed to eat until the eldest in our family started to enjoy the food. Even though my dad is very strict but on the same time he is very sporting too. He knew that my sister can’t use chopstick so he allow all of us to use spoon and fork during dinner. So, what is the best meal that I ever had from Chinese’s culture?  My answer is always the same which is YU SHENG. What is Yu Sheng? Yu Sheng usually consists of strips of raw fish, mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sources and condiments. But there is modern version of Yu Sheng that you can found in the market. The modern Yu Sheng had fish served with daikon (white radish), carrots, red pepper, turnips, red pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges, ‘daun limau nipis’, Chinese parsley, chilli, jellyfish, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers, five spice fowder and a sauce using plum sauce, rice veniger, kumquat paste and sesame oil, for a total of 27 ingredients. We usually have it during the Chinese New Year Period. Eating Yu Sheng during Chinese New Year is a cultural activity for Chinese living in Singapore and Malaysia but not much in Hong Kong. Do you know that every ingredient in the Yu Sheng has its own meaning? Let me give you one example. The fish that added in Yu Sheng is symbolizing abundance and excess through the year. 年年有余 (Nian Nian You Yu) meaning “Abundance through the year”, as the word "fish" in Mandarin also sounds like "Abundance". I love Yu Sheng a lot because there is a lot of taste in a very small spoon of Yu Sheng. Even now, I still remember about the taste. EMMMM, YUMMY.

        

LOOK NICE RIGHT?!! 😍😍

Besides, my mom is a native who come from Pahang. So, she doesn’t too strict in her own eating tradition. So, I don’t actually know about it. But when I was small, my late grandmother always told us about one tradition and she kept remind us about it until the day she became older, sick and left us forever. Based on my memory, she always said that DO NO PLAY WITH THE FOOD. Why? Nenek always told us that if we played with our food then we will get stomachache after we eat it. Is it reliable? For me, yes. I had god a stomachache when I was small after I played with an orange. Because of this experience, I am totally believed in what my late grandmother told me. Even though it sounds funny but who cares. So, for the best meal that I ever had in my mother’s culture is…….. ALL DISHES WHICH COOKED BY MY LATE MOTHER. Even though she already left us for five years, but I still remember the taste of her food. The food that had the taste of love and care.

Need to stop now because tears will fall down if I keep writing about my late grandmother.

Rest In Peace, Nenek. I love you forever and ever😭😭