Customs of food and drink

The customs around eating and drinking: feasts, fasts, hosting and ceremony. Not recipes.

EveryParampara follows the customs around food, not the dishes: the blessing before a meal, the order in which guests are served, the feast that marks a day, the fast and how it is broken, the ceremony of pouring tea. A named food appears here only where it has a role in the custom, such as the sweet offered at a shrine or the bread broken at a Sabbath table. For dishes, recipes and cuisines, see Thali, our food guide.

Meals as rituals

Many meals are ritual in themselves: the Passover seder follows a script, the iftar ends a day of fasting with a prayer, a wedding feast has toasts in a set order. EveryParampara lists these by country and by meal, with the dates where the day moves each year.

Manners at the table

Table customs vary widely: eating with the right hand, sharing a single dish, waiting for the eldest to begin, leaving a little on the plate or clearing it entirely. A guest learns the rules by watching, and a host will forgive mistakes. Behind the rules is a simple idea: the meal is a way of showing respect.

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Customs of food and drink (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

🇨🇳 Chaozhou, China and 1 moreGongfu tea工夫茶 A skilled Chinese method of brewing tea in small teaware with precise heat and timingTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇰🇷 South KoreaJesa제사 (Jesa) A Korean ancestral memorial ceremony held on death anniversaries and major holidays.Spiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇯🇵 JapanToshikoshi soba年越し蕎麦 Buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve, cut easily to let the year goTable custom · Feasts and festival meals

🇹🇼 Taipei, TaiwanNight markets in Taiwan夜市 Street markets that open at sunset across Taiwan, selling snacks, drinks and goodsTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs

🇰🇷 Seoul, South KoreaTemplestay템플스테이 A program that invites visitors to live in South Korean Buddhist temples and join the daily routines of monastic life.Spiritual · Dinner 🇨🇳 ChinaHong Kong tea culture Morning tea with dim sum and milk tea through the day, in Hong Kong's teahousesTable custom · Breakfast

🇨🇳 China and 5 morePostpartum confinement A period of rest, nourishment, and seclusion for mothers after giving birth.Rite of passage

🇨🇳 Tianjin, ChinaManchu-Han Imperial Feast滿漢全席 A grand multi-day banquet uniting Manchu and Han culinary traditions in ChinaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals

🇨🇳 Yixing, ChinaYixing clay teapot紫砂 Handcrafted Chinese purple clay teapots that season with every brewCraft · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇨🇳 China and 5 moreMid-Autumn Festival中秋節 An annual harvest festival celebrating family reunions, full moons and mooncakesFestival · Sweets given and shared

🇯🇵 Kyoto, Japan and 4 moreHanami花見 A Japanese spring custom of gathering under blooming cherry trees to eat, drink, and celebrate the fleeting beauty of thFestival · Lunch

🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanHinamatsuri雛祭り A March festival in Japan where families display ornamental dolls to pray for the health and happiness of young girls.Festival · Sweets given and shared

🇨🇳 Shanghai, China and 1 moreJiaozi餃子 Crescent Chinese dumplings filled with meat or vegetables, eaten for fortune and feastsTable custom · Breakfast

🇰🇵 Pyongyang, North Korea and 3 moreNaengmyeon냉면 Long buckwheat noodles in icy broth, born in North Korea and eaten most in summerTable custom · Dinner

🇲🇳 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and 1 moreNaadamнаадам A midsummer festival of wrestling, horse racing, and archery kept by Mongols in Mongolia and neighboring regions.Festival · Feasts and festival meals

🇰🇷 Jeju, South KoreaHaenyeo해녀 Female free-divers of Jeju Island who harvest seafood from the ocean.Table custom

🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanSetsubun節分 A Japanese ritual of throwing roasted soybeans to banish evil spirits and welcome spring.Festival · Feasts and festival meals

🇨🇳 Xi'an, ChinaChinese tea culture中国茶文化 (Zhōngguó chá wénhuà) A centuries-old practice of cultivating, brewing, and sharing tea as a social and spiritual ritual in China.Table custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanKaiseki懐石 A multi-course Japanese dining tradition shaped by tea ceremonies and the seasonsTable custom · Dinner

🇲🇳 Mongolia and 2 moreTsagaan SarЦагаан сар The Mongolian Lunar New Year festival of peace, elders, white foods and renewalSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇯🇵 Osaka, JapanTsukimi月見 (Tsukimi) / お月見 (Otsukimi) A Japanese autumn festival honoring the harvest moon with seasonal foods and pampas grass decorations.Festival · Dinner

🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreDaeboreum대보름 A Korean festival of the first lunar full moon, marked by fires, wishes and feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇨🇳 China and 5 moreTea culture How tea is prepared, shared and served, from Chinese tea houses to Tibetan butter teaTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇨🇳 China and 5 moreChinese New Year's Evechúxī A reunion day for ethnic Chinese families before the Lunar New Year, marked by feasts, rituals, and staying up late.Festival · Dinner 🇨🇳 Beijing, ChinaLaba Festival臘八節 A winter porridge festival marking the start of the Chinese New Year seasonFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanJapanese tea ceremony茶道 (Sadō / Chadō), 茶の湯 (Chanoyu) The formal serving of powdered matcha, shaped by Zen, Shinto and wabiTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanJapanese New Year正月 An annual celebration of renewal, seasonal foods, and bell ringing across JapanSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇰🇷 South KoreaGimjang김장 Korea's late-autumn work of making enough kimchi to last the winterTable custom

🇨🇳 Beijing, China and 1 moreLaba congee腊八粥 A ceremonial Chinese porridge of rice, beans and dried fruit, eaten at the Laba FestivalTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreReunion dinner團圓飯 A family gathering meal on lunar new year's eve, kept in China and VietnamTable custom · Dinner

🇨🇳 Lhasa, China and 5 moreButter teaབོད་ཇ་ A salted tea churned with yak butter, served to guests across the HimalayaTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇨🇳 China and 5 moreYum cha飲茶 A Cantonese breakfast of dim sum and tea, eaten slowly in large groupsTable custom · Breakfast

🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 morePyebaek폐백 A Korean wedding rite where newlyweds bow to elders and share dates, chestnuts and wineRite of passage

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreBento弁当 A single-portion packed meal in a lidded box, carried to school, work or on a trainTable custom · Lunch

🇰🇷 South KoreaKorean tea ceremony다례 (茶禮) Tea served in Korea as a rite of courtesy, now mostly grain and herbal brewsTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇨🇳 Suzhou, China and 3 moreDongzhi冬至 A midwinter festival celebrating the return of light with family feasts and dumplingsSeasonal · Dinner

🇨🇳 Guangzhou, China and 1 moreDim sum點心 (traditional Chinese), 点心 (simplified Chinese) Small dishes shared with tea, eaten as brunch in Cantonese teahouses and restaurantsTable custom · Breakfast

🇨🇳 Yulin, ChinaYulin Dog Meat Festival狗肉节 A ten-day June festival in Yulin, China, where dog meat is eaten with lycheesFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇨🇳 Suzhou, China and 4 moreDongzhi Festival冬至 A winter solstice festival of family reunions, ancestor rites and sweet rice ballsSeasonal · Dinner

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreFive Grains五穀 A sacred grouping of staple crops honoured as the bedrock of East Asian civilizationFolklore

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Five Grains: Kurt Stüber [1], CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Tea culture: Georges Seguin ( Okki ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Japanese New Year: No machine-readable author provided. Sixgimic assumed (based on copyri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Hanami: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Tsagaan Sar: User:Chinneeb, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Jiaozi: Bioniclepluslotr, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Chinese tea culture: Gary Stevens, CC BY 2.0, source
Daeboreum: hojusaram, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Setsubun: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Kaiseki: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Toshikoshi soba: Osamu Iwasaki, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Night markets in Taiwan: Henry M. Trotter, Public domain, source
Tsukimi: katorisi, CC BY 3.0, source
Chuseok: by Joseph Steinberg (Baltimoron in Korea) at Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Gimjang: USAG- Humphreys, CC BY 2.0, source
Postpartum confinement: Unknown, Public domain, source
Manchu-Han Imperial Feast: Cara Chow ( Charlotte1125 ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Gongfu tea: Kandukuru Nagarjun, CC BY 2.0, source
Yixing clay teapot: Commonsenses, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Templestay: (c)한국불교문화사업단, culturalcorpsofkoreanbuddhism, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Laba congee: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Mid-Autumn Festival: Shizhao, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Butter tea: Yosomono, CC BY 2.0, source
Yum cha: Infomofo, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Pyebaek: halfGoku, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Bento: Blue Lotus, CC BY 2.0, source
Korean tea ceremony: Mai-Linh Doan, CC BY-SA 1.0, source
Yulin Dog Meat Festival: Maria Ly, CC BY 2.0, source
Haenyeo: Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Naengmyeon: wjlee4284, CC BY 2.5, source
Naadam: Chongkian, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Hinamatsuri: Lalupa, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Dongzhi Festival: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Chinese New Year's Eve: Mickey Đại Phát, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Dongzhi: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Dim sum: Kolumbusjogger, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Japanese tea ceremony: Photograph taken by Stephane D'Alu ( en:User:Sdalu ) in April 2004, CC BY-SA 3.0, source