Boiled, steamed, pan-fried, or deep-fried, these little parcels bestow outsized pleasure, their fillings a distillation of savory, fatty unctuousness. They’re important during the Lunar New Year because they signify prosperity, resembling ancient Chinese gold and silver ingots. Also, the word for dumpling – jiao zi – sounds like “midnight exchange.” Families tend to spend the evening together wrapping and shaping dumplings, then eating them to herald new beginnings.

Similar to Christmas cookies, oranges – particularly mandarins – become seasonally abundant at Chinese stores, where people buy crates of them for gift exchanges. It’s a symbolic way of sharing felicity and wealth because the Mandarin word for “orange” is similar to the word for “gold.” The vibrantly colored fruit also doubles up as decoration at homes and businesses. Cousins of the orange, from pomelo to grapefruit and kumquat, are held in similar esteem.

Rounding up the trifecta of wealth and fortune: spring rolls. A perennial takeout choice, dim sum order, and bar snack, these chunky cylinders visually invoke logs of gold with their crispy deep-fried casings. The dish is associated with the changing of season and is an important part of the Spring Festival that coincides with the Lunar New Year. (That’s how the roll got its name.)

What’s wealth without health? Enter noodles, those floury threads to represent a long life. No celebratory Chinese banquet table is without a dish of longevity noodles. It was traditionally made with a single strand. Nowadays, chefs are careful to not cut or break the noodles during the cooking process. That responsibility then continues with the diner, who is encouraged (read: sternly warned by grandma) to eat without chewing, so don’t be alarmed by slurping sounds!