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At Viet Duong’s home in Houston, after everybody’s bellies have been filled with curry and caramelized salted tofu through the New 12 months celebration, they might dig into one thing else: fruit.
Along with oranges and apples, they usually had dragon fruit and star fruit, that are alleged to carry good luck. Mr. Duong’s mother and father all the time lower up the fruit and positioned it within the fridge so it was able to be served proper after the primary course, stated Mr. Duong, 36, a well being care employee.
“There was by no means cake or ice cream,” he stated, however “there are all the time lower fruits.”
Linda Trinh Vo, a professor of Asian American research on the College of California, Irvine, stated that fruit was “a language of affection” throughout Lunar New 12 months and that it may very well be given in some ways. Some households develop their very own tangerines or kumquats to present away, whereas others give roots or seeds from fruit vegetation of their yards. Fruit may also be bought in neatly packed reward containers at grocery shops.
“It’s laborious in lots of Asian American cultures to say the phrases ‘I really like you,’” she stated, “so that they do it via serving these particular delicacies.”
Whether or not it comes wrapped in a field or sliced on a plate, fruit is seen in lots of Asian cultures as a silent gesture of affection, stated Randy Su, 22, of Toronto, who’s finding out for his grasp’s diploma in instructing.
At Mr. Su’s residence on Lunar New 12 months, his mother and father serve plates of lower fruits “like a celebration tray” to their visitors, he stated.
The fruit is “a present of hospitality,” he stated, nevertheless it’s additionally a technique to present the visitors that “they’re occupied with you and take care of you and love you.”
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