"People nowadays eat as if it was the New Year every day, so what's special about New Year food?" These words from Chen Pei-jung, head of clinical nutrition at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH), seem to hit the nail on the head. Traditional New Year favorites such as mullet roe, sausage and cured meat are now available all year round from New Horizon stores; go into a supermarket to buy a portion of fresh Japanese abalone and you will get change out of NT$70; a tender, juicy roast chicken only costs NT$200; and bird's nests in rock sugar are no longer the extravagant treat they used to be.

A prosperous lifestyle and the ubiquitous availability of fat- and protein-rich foods has transformed the Taiwanese diet into "New Year every day" in double-quick time, and has changed the significance of traditional New Year foods completely.

"Back in the agricultural society, farmers labored all day in the fields, but rarely got a square meal. Hence the New Year's Eve dinner was not only a ceremonial occasion and a reward for the whole family for their hard work throughout the year, but also provided a much-needed nutritional boost," says Chen.

Today, however, according to a report on nutrition in Taiwan recently published by the Department of Health, 17.5% of adult males and 23.4% adult females are overweight (more than 20% over ideal weight). Among people aged 45 or above, 7.2% of men and 14.8% of women have diabetes; over 22% of both sexes over 45 have hyperuricemia (an abnormally high concentration of uric acid in the blood, which may lead to gout); not to mention the one-third of adults with high levels of cholesterol, and the quarter of middle-aged people with high blood pressure.

With reference to today's over-rich diet, Professor David Cheng of Taipei Medical College's Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who is also editor of Internet portal Kimo's health page, reminds us to avoid the following pitfalls in our attitudes towards eating at the Lunar New Year:

"What the ancestors eat, I must eat too"

Lunar New Year's Eve is the time to venerate one's ancestors, and as a mark of sincerity one is sure to place on the altar table a whole chicken, a whole duck and a whole fish, along with a large piece of boiled pork, or a round knuckle of pork glistening with fat. Also, in order to have "abundance every year" one is sure to keep the fish head and tail until New Year's Day (the word for "abundance" in Chinese sounds the same as the word for "fish"), and to help it keep that long, the fish used as an altar gift is usually deep fried. After the ancestor worship ceremonies are finished, the sight of all that meat and fish is enough to put everyone off.

"You have to stock up for the holiday!"

Nowadays all the major supermarkets only close a few hours early on New Year's Eve. But many housewives are still in the habit of going on a big shopping spree to stock up for the New Year holiday, often buying three big cabbages, three pounds of mustard cabbage and even a whole leg of lamb. The result of buying too much and having to stuff oneself with food is, at the very least, a well pumped up spare tire, but it may also lead to bloatedness, an attack of gout, or even a sudden rise in blood sugar and a trip to the emergency room. Also, seafood and leaf vegetables do not keep well, so buying too much of these foods only increases the likelihood of them spoiling.

"It's only once a year-let yourself go!"

Many people are aware that smoked meats and other cured foods are carcinogenic; sweet and greasy fried glutinous rice cakes are highly indigestible; melon seeds and beef jerky are far too salty; and a large hotpot contains enough purine to bring on an attack of gout. But in the festive New Year atmosphere they are apt to let themselves go and binge on all sorts of foods that they wouldn't touch at other times, and in particular, when friends or family get together alcohol is sure to be on the agenda. The result of all this is that within just a few days, many reach a nutritional crisis point.

Speaking from years of experience, Chen Pei-jung of NTUH says that at every Lunar New Year there is a flood of visitors to the hospital's emergency room with "New Year's feast complications." The most common complaints are those related to digestive problems, such as painful bloating of the intestines, or diarrhea; next come gout attacks which give people so much pain they cannot walk. There are also patients with ulcers brought on by eating mala hotpot, and even diabetics in hyperglycemic shock due to excess blood sugar. All these various kinds of "joy turning to sorrow" are the result of eating too much, too fast.

Spring Festival couch potato syndrome

Most people have a long break over the Lunar New Year, but the thought of the traffic jams on the motorway is enough to make many choose to spend the holiday at home watching television, eating and drinking. The outcome of all this overeating and inactivity is obvious.

Who looks out for the kids and old folk?

Children who are fussy eaters are bound to be even worse at New Year-they'll fill themselves up just eating sweets and snacks, and parents who are busy with spring cleaning and entertaining may have little time to pay attention to them. Thus when the adults are hopping about with gout, there are also many children who need to see the doctor with toothache or stomachache.

For old people the New Year is also a test, because both their digestion and their metabolism may be weak. Furthermore, the time around the Lunar New Year is also the season when influenza is at its most rampant, and if a child or old person is ill during the holiday period it is even more important to pay attention to controlling their diet.

With regard to the health problems associated with New Year eating, the experts have a few suggestions up their sleeves:

"Buying less" is the key to "eating less":

Mu Huai-ling, a nutritionist at Taipei's Veterans General Hospital (VGH), and also a member of the Consumers' Foundation's foodstuffs committee, recommends that when planning their New Year food purchases, housewives should always remember how much they threw away the year before. If you have to buy a whole chicken, duck and fish, why not buy the smallest? If New Year's glutinous rice cakes come in a five-inch size, there's surely no need to buy ten-inch ones. As for the sweets, melon seeds, longans and so on bought to offer to guests, it's enough to lay in just a small supply. Traditional Chinese dietary therapy expert Tsai Pei-na suggests that rather than serving up dishes full of sweet foods, a better idea is to make your own kudzu root and fuling drink (see recipes), which is sure to please guests more than any rarefied game or seafood dishes.

Make the best use of the altar goods:

David Cheng points out that when preparing the altar goods for the ancestor worship ceremony, one can also plan beforehand what to do with them once the rituals are over, to make the chicken, duck and fish more palatable. For instance, if the boiled chicken is simply chopped up to make white-cut chicken, generally no-one is interested in it. But you can make half into drunken chicken, which is more flavorsome and more attractive to young people. If you plan to use the streaky pork to make your own Cantonese-style roast pork (chashao), remember to marinate it before it goes onto the altar table, to give it more flavor (see recipe). If you are going to roast the duck Sichuanese style, steam it in the electric rice cooker before putting it on the altar, and afterwards roast it with a baste of tea leaves and brown sugar. This double process of steaming and roasting not only gets rid of most of the fat, but also gives the meat much more flavor.

Do you think all this planning is too much of a chore? David Cheng suggests another, more radical solution: leave the worrying to the restaurant. He says that for the last two years his family have gone over to using canned goods, fresh flowers and fruit on the ancestral altar and eating their New Year's Eve meal in a restaurant, because his parents are elderly and preparing a 12-course New Year's Eve meal is too much work, while the younger generation are neither able to help nor willing to take responsibility for consuming the leftovers.

"Even if you make that meal a real blowout, once it's over there are no leftovers to deal with," says Cheng with a laugh. In the last few years, five-star hotels have sized up the New Year market, and have begun to offer festive family menus which provide an expedient solution for our modern age.

Small portions keep things fresh:

Because the Lunar New Year is such an important family occasion, housewives like to make sure that every dish is abundant in quantity, and this makes dealing with the leftovers a big headache. Epicure Liang Chiung-pai advises that when serving up these leftovers, one should avoid "bringing out the whole dishful, and putting the whole lot back in the fridge if it isn't finished." On the one hand, the more often the food is reheated, the less palatable it becomes, and on the other, once a dish has been brought out a number of times, there will be great pressure to "finish it up so it doesn't have to be thrown away."

A better approach is to separate the leftovers of each dish into a number of smaller portions. For example, a knuckle of pork can be cut into three parts which can then be taken out of the freezer one at a time. Liang also reminds us that when thawing out food we shouldn't forget to scrape off all the extra fat, and to cut off the skin from the chicken, duck and pork wherever possible. One can also make for variety by preparing these leftovers in different ways. For instance, one portion of a knuckle of pork can be accompanied by cabbage and pea-starch noodles, while another can be made into stewed pork with pickled cabbage, and so on.

Cut down on fat, salt and sugar:

On the other hand, Mu Huai-ling of VGH points out that even when one does go in for a rich feast at the New Year, it is better to eat fish than meat, better to eat lean meat than streaky pork complete with its rind and fat, and better to eat sea cucumber than cholesterol-rich mullet roe or crab eggs; in short, you can't go wrong by cutting down on meat and eating plenty of vegetables, fruit and whole grains.

Apart from choosing the ingredients carefully, the most important thing when doing the cooking is to remember to use less fat, salt and sugar. To cut down on fat, fish or crustaceans can be steamed in preference to frying them in oil, and deep frying in batter is a definite no-no. By the same token, if you absolutely have to fry New Year's rice cake, why not do it in a non-stick pan, so as to use as little oil as possible?

Many popular New Year foods such as sausage, cured meat or mala hotpot are both fatty and salty; pickled vegetables such as potherb mustard, cabbage, mustard greens or Hakka-style pickled mustard cabbage are overly salty, so one should try to use as little as possible and not forget to rinse them first.

Limiting the total amount matters most:

Chen Pei-jung of NTUH observes that the quantity, quality and variety of New Year foods is a challenge to one's determination to eat with moderation. Most nutritionists extol the "substitution" method as a way of reminding people to be conscious of their calorific intake. For instance, ten boiled peanuts contain as many calories as a teaspoon (5 grams) of fat, and four little slices of radish cake just six centimeters square are equivalent to a bowl of rice. To avoid eating too many calories, and yet not be left feeling that one's stomach is still empty, nutritionists recommend that one should choose foods which are filling.

Mu Huai-ling offers this little tip for controlling your food intake: at the beginning of each meal, put a moderate amount of those foods you want to eat, such as fish and vegetables, onto your own plate, then make that your limit and do not take any more. Also, chewing food thoroughly makes you feel fuller (so you are less likely to overeat), and is better for the digestive system too.

Get out and about:

Mu Huai-ling also comments that at Spring Festival it is not obligatory to go to well-known, crowded tourist spots; instead, why not go and climb a nearby hill, and make a picnic out of the New Year's Eve leftovers. For instance, roast chicken, or pork knuckle in wholewheat rolls, are easy to carry, healthy, and do not create litter. In short, one should do one's best to get more exercise and stay away from tempting snacks.

Start the New Year with healthy eating!

After saying so many negative things about the dangers of New Year eating, Chen Pei-jung feels it is a good idea to turn around and look at things from the positive side.

"Since people today eat like it was New Year every day, then when the New Year holiday really does come around, why not take the opportunity to 'swim against the tide' by adjusting your bad everyday eating habits, so as to make a healthy start to the New Year?" she urges.

Chen says that because many working women feel their cooking skills are not up to scratch, they eat out all year, and very rarely cook at home. But if they take the opportunity to prepare a few dishes themselves during the festive season, who knows if they might not discover how much pleasure there is in cooking. And people who are used to eating greasy, salty fried foods every day can take advantage of the relaxed holiday mood and the availability of all kinds of ingredients to practice a few other cooking methods, such as steaming, boiling and making salads, to gradually accustom themselves to a less rich diet.

A healthy year starts with what we eat at the New Year. Sinorama has specially asked several food experts to suggest recipes for a seven-course New Year's Eve dinner which is nutritious, flavorsome, and healthy too. Why not give it a try?

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The New Year's Eve meal doesn't have to be rich to be appetizing.

(four center photos by Vincent Chang)

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A healthy year starts with the New Year's Eve family meal. Peymi Home proprietress Tsai Pei-na says that traditional dietary therapy is not difficult, and with persistence it can greatly improve one's constitution.

The New Year's Eve meal doesn't have to be rich to be appetizing. （four center photos by Vincent Chang）

The New Year's Eve meal doesn't have to be rich to be appetizing. （four center photos by Vincent Chang）