“One good turn deserves another. To honour the benevolent powers that make all things possible, the Chinese install in their homes various guardians – some people call them gods – who at the appropriate times are invited to participate in human festivities and are plied with food and drink.

“The gods eat the spiritual essence of the offerings and man consumes the delectable substance. Chinese ancestors, who are considered on par with the gods, are revered and worshipped in the same way with a glorious repast.

“Cooking for both man and the gods is thus an event rich in symbolism – bringing wealth, happiness, luck and prosperity, all the things that man desires and which the gods can provide. Cooking for important festive occasions like this may seem like a formidable task, and certainly in the old days it was an enormous job, though nobody minded or even noticed.

“Fowls had to be plucked. Shark’s fins, sea cucumbers, bamboo shoots, to name just a few of the ingredients, had to be soaked, cleaned, boiled and reboiled – processes that could take several days. There were no short cuts, no labour-saving devices, and everything had to also be cooked over charcoal fires.

“For most cooks today, these would present insurmountable obstacles. Fortunately, time has taken much of the hard work out of cooking. Today, it is possible to cook for feasts and festivals without breaking one’s back. It can be quite an enjoyable exercise, in fact, thanks to refrigeration, the wide range of modern kitchen appliances, and the presence of supermarkets stocked with ready-to-use ingredients.”