Auspicious, delicious Lunar New Year dragon dishes shaped by talented China social media users to bring good fortune

Dragons are revered in Chinese culture. The mythical creature is considered an auspicious symbol, bringing good luck, power, honour and success. As a result, depictions of it can be seen everywhere.

With the Year of the Dragon under way, mainland social media is brimming with ideas for creating limited edition dishes presented in the shape of the legend.

Recipes that represent fortune, prosperity and happiness are hugely popular, hopefully guaranteeing a favourable year ahead.

On the mainland social media platform Xiaohongshu, a person using the handle @xiaoxiangdemama, made a dragon dish with ingredients that included spinach, white sesame, sesame oil, soy sauce and salt.

With the cooked spinach, she created the shape of the legendary creature, and made its eyes with small pieces of cheese and some nori. Then she garnished it with clouds made from cheese slices to reflect the auspicious symbolism of dragons riding clouds.

Another person, @shangcha, made a fruit dragon using red wine, oranges, pears, lemonade, rock sugar, and preserved plums.