Lunar New Year Welcomes The Water Rabbit

Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year among Asian cultures, especially for the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean communities, among others. China’s Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival orChūnjié in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal and the Vietnamese refer to it as Tết. The holiday is tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar and was originally observed as a time to honor household and heavenly deities and ancestors.

The New Year begins with the first new moon that occurs between the end of January and spans the first 15 days of the first month of the lunar calendar, until the full moon arrives. This year, the Lunar New Year begins on January 22, 2023 and ushers in the Year of the Water Rabbit. The year is symbolized by longevity, peace, prosperity, benevolence, and fertility. People born in this year are bestowed with the qualities of being alert, witty, innovative, and ingenious.

——— Welcome to the Year of the Water Rabbit. ———

Feast, Feast, Feast!

The reunion dinner is the most loved aspect of the celebrations where family members reaffirm the love and respect that bind them together.
(Photo: Asian Inspirations)

No doubt, celebrations across the globe will be as vibrant as always, filled with many of the same traditions, customs, and delicious feasts. The reunion dinner on the eve is the centerpiece of the occasion. This dinner signifies the bond and togetherness of a family, gathering everyone back to their family homes (including those from overseas) for a meal with a delectable array of dishes on the table. There are many symbolic "lucky" dishes that most families will prepare, but the one food that is undoubtedly the most common is Jiaozi, or dumpling which means wealth. Families often like to prepare the dough and fillings for dumplings together before the New Year's feast. Fish is another must-have dish for the reunion dinner, chosen for its auspicious meaning. In Chinese, the word fish sounds like “surplus” which symbolizes abundance.

In Hong Kong, poon choi – a traditional Cantonese big-bowl meal filled with an assortment of seafood, like fresh abalone, conpoy (dried scallops), sea cucumber, shrimp, mushrooms, and roast meats are common. Chinese families in Singapore usually opt for pen cai, a one-dish meal complete with abalone, mushrooms and conpoy - cooked in a clay pot. Yusheng (a raw fish salad) is a common starter, and for dessert, pineapple tarts and nian gao (sticky rice cakes) are popular choices. In mainland China, noodle soups, dumplings, spring rolls and tangyuan (sweet rice balls) are typically served. For the Vietnamese, it’s Gio cha (Vietnamese sausage), Thit kho trung (Vietnamese Braised Pork with Eggs) and Mut (Candied Fruit). Koreans eat tteokguk (soup made with rice cake), Jeon which with a variety of ingredients like shrimp and pollock, and vegetables, covered in egg and batter and pan-fried, and Galbijjim (braised beef).

These foods are not limited to family feasts and are also served to visitors over the 15-day period, along with melon seeds, snacks, sweets, chocolates wrapped in gold like coins, and other goodies.

Customs and Traditions

For thousands of years, people celebrating the Lunar New Year developed practices to usher in good luck, wealth, and health. While each country has its own distinctive traditions, foods and festivities, here are some of the most common ones:

Spring cleaning: Cleaning the house from top to bottom is customary to get rid of bad fortune from the previous year and start afresh in the new year.

Bright red decorations like festive scrolls, folk painting, paper-cuts and lanterns symbolize good health, prosperity, and longevity.
(Photo: Angela Roma)

Bright red decorations: You can find the color red in the form of festive scrolls, folk painting, paper cutouts and lanterns. Bright red is a symbol of good health and fortune, wealth, prosperity, and longevity.

Never a lender nor a borrower: This important tradition is practised diligently. The idea is to pay off your debts prior to the first day of Lunar New Year, and to make sure not to borrow or lend money during the 15-day celebration. Handling money through borrowing or lending during this time is believed to lead to financial struggles in the year ahead.

No haircuts: The Chinese character for hair is similar to the first character of the word “prosper”. So, cutting or changing your hair on the first day or even first month of the new year is like throwing or washing away your fortune.

During visits with elder relatives, children and single adults are gifted money in red envelopes, known as Hónɡ bāo.
(Photo: Rodnae Productions)

Giving and receiving red envelopes: During visits to older relatives, people are usually gifted money in red envelopes, known as Hónɡ bāo. The Vietnamese refer to this custom as “Li xi,” or “lucky money.” In Korea, money from the elders called Sae bae don, translated as “new year’s money,” is usually given not in red but in white or patterned envelopes.

Buying new clothes: Wearing new clothes from head to toe symbolizes a new start and fresh hopes for the New Year. Chinese usually wear red or other brightly colored clothes to keep up with the festive and upbeat mood.

Dragon and lion dances are believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
(Photo: Nam Le)

Dragon dances: Dragon dances are an important part of the celebrations. Along with lion dances, they are often the highlight of New Year parades. Dragons and lions are believed to be a way to scare away evil spirits and bring good luck to people. It is considered lucky if one is touched by a “dragon”.

Here’s wishing all celebrants 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'.
May the Year of the Water Rabbit bring you great health, prosperity and happiness!

Food & Hotel Vietnam Returns After 2 Years

Food & Hotel Vietnam (FHV) 2022, the country’s largest international food and beverage trade show, opened December 7 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in HCM City, following a two-year disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, more than 300 leading businesses from 28 countries participated in the trade show to connect with potential business partners and leverage market trends and new technologies. International groups from the EU, Germany, Italy, UK, Belgium, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, USA, Canada, Uruguay, Singapore, and Japan hosted pavilions at FHV. Joining USAPEEC at the booth were representatives from AJC International, Ayama Foods, Globex, Intervision Foods, Maple Leaf Farms, Mountaire Farms and Sure Good Foods.

Agricultural Counselor Ralph Bean delivered the opening remarks at the F&B Showcase and Reception
at Sofitel Saigon Plaza.

U.S. Consul General Susan Burns stopped by the USAPEEC booth
at FHV 2022.

USAPEEC members engaged in Q&A with the trade.

The USAPEEC table at the F&B showcase.
(Photo: The Smart Local) 

During the three-day event, trade visitors to the booth got to sample a variety of U.S. chicken and turkey dishes and check out the freezers displaying U.S. whole turkey and chicken leg quarters and drumsticks. Thirty-seven entrants competed in the U.S. Poultry Culinary Competition under the Hot Cooking category featuring U.S. chicken. On December 8, USDA and U.S. co-operators hosted a Food and Beverage Showcase and Reception at the Sofitel Saigon Plaza for 230 trade and invited guests that included F&B managers and chefs of various hotels, restaurants, catering institutions, culinary schools and the media. FHV 2022 attracted more than 10,000 trade visitors.

A wide variety of U.S. poultry dishes were prepared daily for trade visitors.

Sampling at the booth.

The Goodness of Healthy Proteins

Protein in your diet provides energy and supports mood and cognitive function. It is a vital nutrient required for building, maintaining, and repairing tissues, cells, and organs throughout the body. When you eat protein, it is broken down into the 20 amino acids that are the body’s basic building blocks for growth and energy.

When it comes to making protein choices in your diet, quality is just as important as quantity.

Adequate protein intake is important for keeping muscles, bones, and tissues healthy.

100g of duck provides approximately 20-21g of protein.
(Photo: Pixabay)

Quality is critical: The quality of protein in our diets is an important consideration. Quality of protein can be defined by its bioavailability and its amino acid profile. Poultry like chicken, duck, turkey, and eggs are the best source of bioavailable proteins and are accepted as complete proteins, since all the dietary essential amino acids are abundantly present in them. They are packed with the goodness of healthy proteins, fats and micronutrients, and its high protein content makes them a great immunity boosting food. One egg gives around 7g of protein, whereas 100g of chicken, duck or turkey is around 20-21g.

Poultry and eggs are loaded with micronutrients like vitamin A, vitamin B12, zinc, iron, and selenium. Poultry also contains heme iron, which helps to prevent anemia because the body absorbs this iron better than non-heme iron found in plant foods.

Poultry and eggs are loaded with micronutrients like vitamin A, vitamin B12, zinc, iron, and selenium.
(Photo: Joan Doan)

Go for high-quality protein: High-quality protein, like poultry, have been shown to prevent muscle loss more effectively than other protein foods. Zinc, an important micronutrient which helps maintain optimal immune function and promotes wound healing, is abundant in poultry. Chicken contains the amino acid tryptophan, which has been linked to higher levels of serotonin, the “feel good” hormone in our brains, hence it helps to boost your mood. In addition to keeping you healthy and energetic, protein can help improve the way you look. Eating high-quality protein can help you maintain healthy skin, nails, and hair, build muscle, and maintain lean body mass.

Tofu and soymilk are rich sources of protein.

Add more protein to your meals: For some, it may seem challenging to include more protein in your diet, but all you need to do is to make some small tweaks to your meals. You can start by making better choices, for example, take note of some protein-rich sources of food like tofu, soymilk, eggs, lean poultry and fish. Having enough protein should ideally be complemented by healthier meal choices. By adding or switching up certain foods in each meal to include more protein-rich ones, it is easy to spread out your protein intake for a steady supply of protein for muscles to repair and/or build new cells and tissues throughout the day. Lean protein rich meals with poultry can make you feel fuller despite eating less, which helps to promote better weight management.

In Singapore, older adults who are 50 years old and above will need to consume an average of around 75g of protein in a day while adults aged below 50 would need a little less at an average of 60g of protein per day. (Ministry of Health, Singapore).

Healthy ways to cook meat and poultry

When buying, look for frozen meat displayed in freezer cabinet kept at -18°C or below as the temperatures will inhibit bacteria growth. For pre-packaged frozen meat, check the expiry date. For loosely packed frozen meat, make sure it is ice-hard and its surface is dry.

• Choose a lean cut of meat or poultry. Chicken breast without skin or crumbs on the outside is great.
• Grill your meat, rather than frying it. And don’t add extra oil when you are cooking.
• Use a low-fat marinade to give your meat and poultry a great flavor. Marinades also tenderize your meat and keep it moist during cooking.
• When you are roasting meat or poultry, sit it on a metal rack above the roasting pan so the fat drips off.
• Healthy cooking methods like baking, grilling, stir-frying, or steaming and enjoying alongside with a variety of veggies is key to eating healthy and getting all the nutrients your body needs.

For a healthy dose of all the nutrients your body needs, opt for skinless chicken breast and healthy cooking methods like grilling or baking.
(Photo: Julia Filirovska)

Going Nutty Over Peanut Butter

Behold, the humble jar of peanut butter. Doesn’t matter if you think chunky or smooth peanut butter reigns supreme, it remains the most well-known of all nut butters and has been a hot commodity for hundreds of years because of its shelf-life, taste, texture, and health benefits.

It’s a truly special spread, especially in the USA. The country is the leading exporter of peanut butter and one of the largest consumers. Every year on the 24th of January, peanut butter lovers celebrate National Peanut Butter Day.

Store bought or handmade?

For most of us, buying a jar of peanut butter from the supermarket is pretty much the norm but you know what? You can also make your own. Homemade peanut butter gives you control over the final product. Plus, as long as you have a decent food processor or blender, you will be able to whip up a basic homemade peanut butter recipe in no time. First, dump a few cups of peanuts into the blender or food processor and grind them on high to produce a sandy texture. Then scrape down the sides with a spatula and keep processing the mixture until the natural oils are released and the contents turn into a creamy paste. If you’re having trouble or want to speed up the process, a splash of neutral-flavored oil will help.

Common uses of peanut butter

Peanut butter is a highly versatile ingredient. Fitness junkies consider peanut butter a superfood that’s high in healthy fats and usually add a tablespoon of peanut butter in protein shakes or smoothies. Dessert lovers love adding peanut butter to baked goods like cakes, cookies, and brownies as it provides a heightened butteriness accented with a nutty flavor. For many of us, it’s simply a spread that’s paired with jelly to create the classic Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.

Peanut butter is the most well-known of nut spreads.
(Photo: Karolina Grabowska)

With its rich, fatty flavor and smooth consistency, peanut butter adds texture to baked goods like cookies.
(Photo: richanddelish)

Savory applications

Beyond using peanut butter as a simple spread or ingredient in a dessert, there are plenty of ways to expand your cooking repertoire. Take away the added sugar or sweeteners, and you’ll find that peanut butter is a savory ingredient on its own and can easily be incorporated into savory dishes.

Vietnamese summer rolls are served with a side of peanut dipping sauce.
(Photo: successrice)

Tuong Dau Phong: The Vietnamese often pair their fried spring rolls or summer rolls with a spicy chili sauce and peanut dipping sauce, otherwise known as tuong dau phong. The base ingredients of the sauce are peanut butter, hoisin sauce, hot chili peppers and water. The spiciness, as well as the consistency of the sauce, is highly variable and dependent on the amount of chili pepper and peanut butter added.

Peanut Ban Mian is typically sold as a street food item in China.
(Photo: LaabiCook)

Peanut Ban Mian Noodles: In Fujian province, China, bowls of peanut ban mian noodles are typically sold as a street food item. The beauty of this dry noodle dish lies in its simplicity and use of minimal ingredients - wonton noodles, minced garlic, grated ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and peanut butter. The noodles are topped with chopped scallions, sesame seeds and crushed peanuts for a good crunchy addition.

Kare Kare’s sauce is a mixture of chicken broth, annatto powder, fish sauce and peanut butter.
(Photo: vegnews)

Kare Kare: This is a traditional Filipino stew, made of chicken and vegetables simmered in a rich creamy sauce. The sauce is a mixture of chicken broth, annatto powder, fish sauce and of course, peanut butter. While traditional recipes call for ground peanuts, peanut butter can be used as a substitute and time-saver ingredient. Chunky peanut butter for those who want texture in the sauce, and smooth peanut butter for those who prefer a smooth and silky sauce.

Tip: When it comes to savory sauces, stews, marinades, and other dishes, natural peanut butter is the way to go. Since it is essentially grounded nuts without the added salt, sugar, and flavorings, it will provide the most unadulterated flavor and pair well with the savory notes of dishes.

Striking A Balance Between Healthy And Tasty

Without question, healthier foods top today’s shopping lists, however, nutrition and taste remain a puzzle that food producers are still trying to solve. A research study by Taste Tomorrow, revealed that consumers are taking two routes in their quest for health – 60% prefer to eat fewer or smaller portions, and 58% choose healthier alternatives. But taste and texture still reign supreme.

For producers looking to cater to both types of consumers, two options are on the table: resize or reformulate.

Whether it is integrating ‘healthier’ options into their portfolios, replacing or reducing fat and sugar, or revaluating portion size, opportunities abound. While cutting portion sizes can be straightforward, reformulation needs more consideration - but with the right innovations, it is possible to capitalize on this growing trend.

Naturally powered ingredients

Striking the balance between tasty and healthy can be challenging but it can also be fruitful. Power ingredients like fruit, fiber and multigrain offer that coveted, elusive sweet spot. Adding these ingredients not only fortifies products, packing them with micronutrients to support healthy weight, digestion, gut health or even immunity and mental well-being but it also enhances the eating experience. Sprouted grains, for example, can boost the nutritional profile of baked goods, increasing vitamin, mineral and fiber content, without diminishing flavor. These grains are simply whole-grain seeds that have just begun to sprout. To catch the sprouts at just the right moment in the growing process, whole-grain seeds are typically soaked and then nurtured in environments with controlled amounts of warmth and moisture. This unique sprouting process unlocks natural tastes and textures, resulting in malty, rich and sweet notes.

Striking a balance between nutrition and taste can be a challenge.
(Photo: Igor Ovsyannykov)

Sprouted grains are whole-grain seeds, caught at the right moment during the growing process, soaked and nurtured in environments.
(Photo: Silver Hills Bakery)

Similarly, technical fruit fillings have been developed to overcome traditional barriers to fruit inclusion in bakery, such as loss of flavor or nutritional value and moisture migration. Fruit fillings packed with up to 90% of top-quality fruit, can be used in a variety of applications with outstanding bake stability. Apart from being tasty and healthy, they’re popular among consumers too. Taste Tomorrow’s research indicates that 92% of consumers are attracted by the taste of fruit fillings while 64% believe they are healthy. Solutions such as these are specifically designed to allow healthy ingredients to be seamlessly incorporated into recipes, with little to no modifications to current processes. As well as boosting the nutritional value of the end product, the natural sweetness of these ingredients can also open the door to reducing added sugar in recipes.

Fruit fillings can be used in a variety of applications with outstanding bake stability.
(Photo: Valeria Boltneva)

Sensory satisfaction without sacrifice

The link between excessive fat and sugar consumption and diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, is raising the alarm for consumers. As governments around the world ramp up efforts to cut down, enforcing sugar tax schemes, restricting energy-dense food sales, and introducing front of packaging schemes like Nutri-Score, limiting fat and sugar intake is front and center of consumers’ minds. Yet, these are vital ingredients in bakery, patisserie and chocolate making, playing crucial roles in volume, texture improvements, such as softness, short bite, crumb moistness, and melting mouthfeel, as well as flavor and sweetness.

Thankfully, advancements in ingredient technology have allowed bakers, pâtissiers, chocolatiers and various food manufacturers to reduce these elements without compromising on taste. One company has chosen to base their chocolate reformulation on natural fibers, resulting in sugar-reduced solutions that not only have more appealing ingredient lists, but also offer more balanced nutritional profiles. The innovative chocolate formulation contains 40% less sugar, offering opportunities for sugar-reduced chocolate products, and boasts a ‘source of fiber’ claim so customers can take a two-pronged approach to meeting their health and well-being goals. This is achieved without sacrificing the superior taste and texture, and perfectly balanced flavor of real Belgian chocolate.

Thanks to innovative advancements, reformulation offers sugar-reduced solutions for chocolates without compromising on taste and texture.
(Photo: Pixabay)

A new era in healthier foods

Catering to the increasingly discerning consumer can seem a demanding task but with subtle changes to existing recipes, bakers, pâtissiers and chocolatiers can successfully create added value products that boast both exceptional flavor and enhanced nutritional qualities.

Singapore: Accelerating Meat And Seafood Production With AI/ML

A multi-institutional research program is underway between A*STAR and its partners through the Centre of Innovation for Sustainable banking and Production of Cultivated Meats or CRISP Meats to accelerate the development and production of farmed meat and seafood in Singapore.

The use of animal serum in the manufacturing process and high costs of culture media are key contributors to the challenging commercial viability of bringing cultivated meat and seafood products to the general population.

According to Dr Ng Say Kong, Principal Scientist and Co-Director of CRISP Meats, projects under the program are made to address the demands of the cultivated meat and seafood business, from the isolation and documentation of cell lines to the development of novel bioprocesses and animal serum-free growing mediums. It also addresses the high cost of animal serum and cell culture media. They use cutting-edge technology, such as multi-omics analysis to determine the metabolic needs of cells from various species to accelerate their growth rate, and artificial intelligence and machine learning modelling (AI/ML) techniques to speed up the media formulation process.

AI and ML are speeding up the development and production of farmed meat and seafood in Singapore.
(Photo: SMU)

Dr Ng, together with Dr Andy Tan, Senior Scientist and Co-Director of CRISP Meats are leading a team in their collaborative efforts to develop various technologies that can support a profitable value chain for produced meat. They also collaborate with cultivated meat companies to help them develop a variety of product formats, ranging from minced meat products like nuggets and patties to whole-cut meat products like steaks and sliced meat parts.

The researchers are aiming to create a diverse range of cell lines to produce cultivated chicken, pork, and selected seafood, including fish, as these products are commonly used in Asian cuisines and are expected to gain popularity in Asian markets.

Researchers are looking at seafood, fish, and premium chicken breeds to identify cell lines to cater to Asian palates.
(Photo: Medium)

Sixteen labs from A*STAR, the Singapore Institute of Technology, and the National University of Singapore are involved in CRISP Meats. The research teams focus on regional seafood, fish, and premium chicken breeds to identify cell lines from food species that cater to Asian palates.

This is in line with Singapore’s “30 by 30” food security national agenda, which aims to meet 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally by 2030. In 2020, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) approved the sale of the world’s first cultivated chicken nuggets, making Singapore the first country in the world to do so. The country is leading efforts to assist industry partners in making cultivated meat safe and affordable.

Singapore is the first country to approve the sale of the world’s first cultivated chicken nuggets.
(Photo: Yanuar Widjanarko)