Yu Sheng(鱼生): The Good Luck Salad

This is our first CNY in this island and we've just learned the local CNY tradition. In stores and eating house we saw colourful preserved veggies packed in small plastic cups. This is what they called Yu Sheng. Beside exchanging oranges and pineapples, people usually eat yu sheng as the part of CNY tradition. Yu Sheng consists of ingredients like sliced raw fish, shredded lettuce, carrots, finely grated vegetables, candied melon and lime, red and white pickled ginger, pomelo sacs, sesame seeds, jellyfish and peanuts all tossed in a dressing.

Based on couple of sites, at the beginning yu sheng was eaten few days after CNY, at the celebration of man's birthday to be exact; which falls at the 7th day of the new year. But now the dish is available even couple of days before CNY. Before the feast begins there are several ceremonial steps to be followed. Everytime one salad ingredient is added in to the mixing bowl we need to say something, wishing for good luck and prosperity. Then all of us have to mix the salad by tossing it jointly with our chopsticks shouting ‘lo hei’ (“toss up”) and making a wish for the new year before eating it. Oh ya, and actually yu sheng is a local Singapore's tradition.

We're quite lucky to be invited in such dinner so we can experience this unique local tradition. And we hoped by tossing up the salad all of our wishes will come true!