New Year’s Treats

The Chinese New Year, a celebration that lasts from Thursday to Feb. 17, makes this a good time to visit Golden Village in Scarsdale or Kam Sen in White Plains. Both markets are now particularly well stocked with reasonably priced foods that in name, color, homonym or shape represent the holiday’s good wishes: for happiness, prosperity and wealth.

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Oranges in particular are popular, often for gifts, since the Chinese word for the fruit sounds like the one for “good luck.” At both places, bins are heaped with citrus fruits. On my last visit, clementines were about $5 a box, oranges were two for $1 and tangerines about $1 a pound — all round, golden and sweet, suggesting wealth and togetherness.
The stores are also well stocked with lettuce, which, when sautéed, looks like old China money and symbolizes “plentiful wealth.” And freezers bulge with dumplings, whose sealed wrappers represent wholeness and unity ($6 to $11 for a three-pound bag).
Opening an oyster or scallop shell is like the opening of a fresh new year, and shrimp — the word sounds like the Chinese one for laughter — bring happiness. So the shops’ seafood counters offer these omens of good fortune at bargain prices.
Serving whole fish or chicken is traditional, again indicating completeness and uninterrupted prosperity. At both stores, whole and filleted fish pack the ice beds (at Kam Sen, a large tank holds swimming fish; you can’t get fresher). And hanging next to the bronzed ducks at the roasting stations are beautifully roasted and delicious scallion chickens ($4.80 a pound).
With its sweetness and adherence, nian gao, a sticky rice cake, is a must for good luck, and long noodles, promising longevity, are a treat at any celebration.