Food brings people together and forges our cultural identities. 食物让人们聚在一起，并建立我们的文化认同。

Chinese New Year marks the beginning of the lunar year. 中国新年标记着农历年的开始。

Families gather and share a reunion dinner with foods that hold symbolic meaning. 家家户户团聚在一起，并分享一顿满是含有象征意义食物的团圆晚餐。

Chinese New Year...it's a time for renewal, it's about rejuvenation. 中国新年...是个除旧布新的时间，是有关回春的。

We have a reunion dinner and usually my father cooks. 我们有团圆晚餐，通常我父亲掌厨。

My father is actually...he's not a chef by trade, but he's an amazing cook. 我父亲其实...他不是个专业训练的大厨，但他是个很棒的厨师。

He'll prepare several dishes and some of them are very symbolic. 他会准备几道菜，它们之中有些是非常具象征性的。

It's important to have a whole fish at the dinner table. 很重要的是在晚餐桌上要有一整条鱼。

The Cantonese word for fish is "yu." Yu in Chinese—it sounds similar to the word for "surplus" or "extra." 鱼的广东话是“鱼”。鱼在中文－－它听起来像“盈余”或是“剩余”的字。

My father will make "longevity noodles" because they're uncut and they are supposed to symbolize long life. 我的父亲会煮“长寿面”，因为它们未经剪切，且它们应该象征长寿。

Like, they're a given that we are gonna have them during Chinese New Year dinner. 像是，它们是理所当然的食物，我们在中国新年晚餐的时候要吃它们。

The tangerines are called "gum" in Chinese, which sounds like "gold" and that was to symbolize prosperity. 橘子在中文叫做“柑”，听起来很像“金”，那是要象征繁荣。

And we would eat them, but they would also be part of the decoration in the house. 我们会吃它们，但它们也是屋中装饰的一部分。

I lived in Confucius Plaza, which is right in the heart of Chinatown. 我住在孔子广场，就在中国城的正中心。

So walking out and smelling the gunpowder from the firecrackers, 所以走出去闻闻鞭炮的火药味，

it's the one time that I would get to see all of my relatives and I would get together with my cousins. 那是我可以看到所有亲戚，并与我的表亲们聚一聚的时候。

And we could probably not get together for Christmas, but we had to be home for Chinese New Year. 我们也许圣诞节无法相聚，但我们必须为了中国新年回家。

Food is a huge part of our identity and it's probably one of the things that continues to tie me to my culture. 食物是我们认同的很大一部分，它也许是持续将我与我的文化连结起来的东西之一。