Eating your way to prosperity

THERE is a Chinese saying that goes “To be able to eat is fortune by itself.” This explains why eating is a major part of the Chinese New Year celebration. Therefore, it is important to observe proper table manners, as this also plays a part in warding off all things inauspicious.

1) Do not use your chopstick to spear your food, a common mistake for diners unfamiliar with Chinese customs and parents taking young children for dim sum meals. Convenient as it may be to eat a large fishball this way, it however symbolises a dagger stabbing someone’s back. It is also why you must never point a pair of chopsticks at anyone. The act insinuates you are holding them at knifepoint.