Keeping Traditions Alive

FOR MANY CHINESE families, the reunion dinner is perhaps the most important meal of the year. Whether it's a home-cooked menu lovingly prepared by homemakers of the 60s and 70s, or the hassle-free but lavish restaurant dinners today, this family tradition is as strong as ever.

Back then, you wouldn't find premium meats like wagyu or Iberico pork on the table, but there were plenty of traditional high end favourites on the menu such as rabbit fish - prized for its milt and roe.

While times have changed, the ambience and rituals still stay the same. Aunties still haggle with fishmongers at the wet market even as others do their ordering online. New clothes and a haircut are still the norm, and Chinatown remains an attraction to soak in the new year spirit and shop for snacks and ornaments.