Ego, commerce or superstition?

Throughout the year, I have a great appetite. I consume a big amount of food as my activities in a day consist of much physical action. I needed the carbohydrates through grains, fruits and vegetables to supply the amount of energy I use up each day. Of course, I take sufficient protein, vitamins and minerals food to ensure I stay in good health.

However, there was a time, always at this time of the year, the eve of the Chinese New Year, when I lost some of my appetite as the result of seeing the enormous amount of food placed on the table.

This is a pecularity of the Chinese. I came from a poor family and despite that, there was always a great quantity of food; fish, chicken, duck, pork, salad leaves, salted vegetable soup with meat in it and the thousand-year fermented duck's eggs; on the table on new year's eve. The amount of food was always obviously too much to feast on and the sight of it was usually enough to chase away my appetite.

The only beautiful things about the new year then were the number of red packets I could manage to collect during those younger days and the bottles of cold aerated water I was allowed to drink. During those days, the financial situation of the family allowed me such luxuries rarely.

After the new year's eve dinner, the torture began. Day after day, for the next few days at least, it was left-over food, cooked and recooked, recycled with a little bit of meat or other vegetables added. How healthy that food was I would never know. Of course, we know that each time we subject food to more heat, more nutrients are lost. Fortunately, I had never experienced any food poisoning, malnutrition maybe.

Today, with myself having a say in my food, my family as well as my brother's family do not practise that any more. Funny, is it not, that we do not do that when we have a refrigerator to store all that food whereas there was no refrigerator for such a purpose when my parents were doing that, using the heat from the stove to recook the food after each meal.

And in my curiosity as to why some families still do that, I discover that they have the belief that the kitchen god would come for a visit and so as to ensure that he could put in a good report on the family, the family has to somehow fill the rice-containers to the brim and have lots of food in the food-cupboard.

For me, that sounded like a commercial reason. Business people, in order to have good business, must have put such ideas into the minds of the simple folks to encourage them to spend on more than was needed.

Or was that an excuse to assuage one's ego when it comes to the poor or to show off the capability of the family when it comes to the well-to-do.

Whatever it may be, it is also an opportunity to splurge a bit on some expensive items such as more attractive new clothes and the more exotic delicacies that are usually available at this time of the year. This is one of the reasons, people are most happy and appreciative in welcoming a new year.