3 Bay Area chefs on what they cook for Chinese New Year
What kind of food will be popping up on tables during the 2026 Lunar New Year?
In Chinese culture – not the only Asian culture to celebrate the holiday, surely, but a big one in the Bay Area – think whole fish, which represents family and sharing. Or think dumplings, which represent wealth and good fortune with shapes recalling gold ingots. And across regions and families, there are, of course, the personal traditions that mark this most auspicious holiday.
As the big day (of a weekslong celebration) approaches on Tuesday, Feb. 17, we’ve asked three chefs to share their culinary game plans for New Year’s.
Kathy Fang
Restaurateur and cookbook author, owner San Francisco’s Fang and House of Nanking; kathyfang.com
“Egg rolls or spring rolls are something that I feel every family has to have. It symbolizes wealth because of the way that it’s shaped — they say it looks like bars of gold. I actually grew up making them with family. The big feast is at night, but as people are cooking, the rolls are like a snack that gets you through the day. By dinner, everybody’s probably had a couple ‘golden bars’ to snack on, but you know, you can never have enough gold. …
“Our family specifically, we eat nian gao, a sticky rice cake. It’s very prevalent in Shanghainese families. It’s sliced rice cakes that get stir-fried with pork or Chinese sausage, and then there’s vegetables in it. We also have it in sweet form, which is a pressed sticky-rice cake. It has dates, and it’s red, and you slice it and eat it in the morning on New Year’s Day.”
Kristina Cho
– James Beard Award-winning cookbook author of 2021’s “Mooncakes and Milk Bread,” Richmond; eatchofood.substack.com
“Both my parents are from Hong Kong, with a lot of Cantonese roots, and specifically my mom’s family is Toisan. So there are some distinct Toisan foods we always have during Lunar New Year. One of them is fun see. Noodles are very common during Lunar New Year — they represent longevity. The longer the noodle, the longer and happier the life. Fun see are these mung beans and starch noodles stir-fried with dried shrimp and pork and green onions. It’s kind of like that first thing you put on your plate, before grabbing the pork belly or the fish. …
“As a sweet component, I like to put together a ‘Tray of Togetherness,’ which is like a candy tray. There’s candied winter melon, sesame brittle, candied sunflower seeds. It’s very common to have during Lunar New Year. You keep it out for a couple days because when friends and family come to visit, you serve this little tray with tea and just have a little chit-chat.”
Ying Chang Compestine
– speaker and author of 2025’s “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and Other Curiously Named Classic Chinese Dishes,” Lafayette; yingc.com
“One thing I always serve is spring rolls, because it reminds me of my childhood. I make spring rolls wrapped in rice paper. In California, we’re so lucky because we have all this fresh seafood around us. I like to make various fillings, and if I can get fresh seafood I can make shrimp or lobster spring rolls with vegetables. …
“I’m from Wuhan in central China, and there’s a dish that people in the west of the country don’t really talk about. It’s called a lion’s head meatball. It is a big meatball. It symbolizes power and courage, which really go along with the Year of the Horse. It’s delicious and beautiful – really just a good holiday dish to serve.”