Tossing Raw Fish Salad on The 15th Day

The Chinese New Year season came to an end with a lunch hosted by an ex-celebrity who has always been a great hostess.

The lunch started off with raw fish salad which is a must during Chinese New Year. 'Lo Yu Sang' (捞鱼生）or 'tossing the raw fish', as it is known in Cantonese, reputedly started more than half a century ago in Singapore. It may have derived from a way of eating fish in villages along the Pearl River in Guangdong Province, China. Anyway, it was said to have originated from a place called Jiangmen, which is just next to Zhongshan, Sun Yat Sen's hometown. Despite its obvious origins, the dish never reached its pinnacle of fame until it caught Singaporeans' fancy. People in Southern China, it seems, do not have the custom of tossing raw fish, not even in gourmet capitals such as Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Macao. But people in Singapore, and now even those in neighbouring Malaysia, are taking to it in a big way. The salad is becoming more colourful, with more ingredients. Raw fish is sometimes replaced by abalones, prawns and clams. I cannot say they are all suitable, though there is an excuse to increase the price more than tenfold if such exotic ingredients are added.

Recently, a Hong Kong food presenter, calling herself Suzie Wong, put on a mocking tone to introduce this dish in a New Year food special programme. She used noodles instead of the carrot strips used in the real thing and offered comments in a tone hinting at the eating standards of Singaporeans. She seems to give the impression that Singaporeans are really a silly bunch in getting hooked by such a dish and calling out auspicious slogans while tossing the salad. It may be Miss Wong's presentation style in hurling abuses at certain shops or dishes in her programme. But when comments are directed at a dish from a foreign source, so popular that it has more or less become a national dish of that place, some tact and sensitivity should be displayed. After all, the dish did not become famous for no reason.

As for the chanting of auspicious expressions while tossing the salad, it's all in the New Year spirit. The belief is the higher the salad is tossed, the more luck it will bring in the coming year, whether in the form of promotions in a career or striking it rich in any kind of draw. It's all for the fun and cheer and nothing to scoff at.

The earliest stall famous for raw fish salad was, as I can remember it, Chiu Kee (钊记), a somewhat insignificant coffee shop at Keong Saik Road (funny, I used to know it as Keong Saik Street， 恭锡街 as in Chinese) . It only became noisy and well lighted up during Chinese New Year when people flocked to the stall for raw fish salad and porridge, a heavenly combination. For the rest of the twelve months, it was relatively quiet. It looked as if it had earned enough during the first fifteen days of the year that it did not need to operate for the rest of the year. The four big chefs came on the scene much later. Anyway, Chiu Kee suddenly closed shop, probably in the seventies. Maybe, the owner decided that he had earned enough.