Lunar New Year is for Everyone

Before the widespread of Gregorian calendar (the most prominent global calendar now), lunar calendar was used by many cultures and civilizations on earth.

To do a rudimentary summary, Solar calendar celebrates “religion” or rather “humans in the form of religion”, while Lunar New Year celebrates “nature” or “seasons”.

Gregorian/Solar calendar marks significant religious figures while Lunar Calender, at least Chinese lunar calendar, marks significant twenty four agricultural events; In China, Lunar Calender is also called “Agriculture Calender” (农历）. This name says it all.

Gregorian calendar, the solar dating system now in general use, was proclaimed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a reform of the Julian calendar.

Lunar New Year, dated to about 11th century BCE (yes and still in use!), is all about welcoming and appreciating the coming of spring in the dark and cold winter. About food. About Mother Nature’s nurturing. About people getting together.

Currently it is mostly celebrated in East Asia but I believe Lunar New Year truly belongs to everyone, because nature is the mother of all of us. Native American tribes used a Lunar calendar too. To my pleasant astonishment, even today Indigenous tribes name each month by an event of nature. “The Chokecherry”, Moon of the Yellow Leaves”, “The Moon of Pawpaw”. (Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley, Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen). The same by in traditional Chinese! For example, 2nd Moon/Month is also called “杏月 “, Moon of Apricot (Blossoms).

So this is not just about “Asian Americans”; it is truly everyone’s festival.

This year I created a completely new menu based on Indigenous ingredients from the Continent of America. (I did that some years back for Thanksgiving, to honor the Indigenous farmers, hunters and cooks who fed the pioneers.)

Reviving indigenous ingredients means so many things.

1.What was always here means it uses least resources to produce.

2. Any indigenous menu, when our ancestors had to rely on things within 10 miles, was almost without exception, plant based mixed with small amount of animal product (eggs, meat, diary). Or 80/20 as the name of this blog. Because throughout each year nature provides, on any given day, 2000 foliages, 10 flowers if at all, 10 fruits of at all, 5 eggs if at all, while meat? Maybe 5 every month? This is the natural “food pyramid” which has been completely destroyed by our Europeanized food structure and later industrious mono-farming and animal farming. Way too much saturated fat, over-proteined, while almost depleted of fiber. Thus Indigenous cuisine, of any continent, has the potential of foster health.

3. Foster a better economical system. If average Americans eat just a little less beef (therefore also less weight, less medicine, less anti-acid pill and diabetes med too), about 50% of our huge cattle farm land can be returned to prairie, where bison can roam free together with turkeys, ducks, native plants, bees and more; we can eat these directly from “nature parks” instead of stinky and depleted cattle ranch.

As you can see, this menu is pretty much 80% plants and 20% animals. All diners at the celebration were meat eaters yet everyone was satisfied and energized by this meal.

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Indigenous ingredients:

Wild rice (a water grass seeds)

Pepper (both sweet and spicy)

Avocado

Tomato

Beans

Bison (instead of beef or pork)

Duck (instead of chicken. I used bones to make broth base).

Chestnut (used to be a main food source before a plague wiped them out)

Corn

Pumpkin

Pumpkin seeds

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All recipes are my original.

Total diners: 12.

Dished to cook: 5

Cook time: I started cooking only 1 hour before guests arrive. I have a helper and I dictated most of the preparation to the helper while I was hand sewing the table cloth!

What took the longest time was actually the table cloth!

(Will share all recipes later.)

Table cloth: 100% cotton by Scalamandre.

Happy Lunar New Year!

May Mother Nature forgive our abuse and ignorance.

May all have or regain health!

2/19/2024