Lunar New Year Celebration: Chinese Vegetarian Cuisine & Tea

Dear friends,

Some time ago, we got in touch because I shared my wish to organise a Chinese vegetarian food gathering, and many of you expressed interest. And now the date and venue are confirmed:

Chinese Vegetarian Food Gathering
Date & time: Sunday 15/02, 12:00–14:00
Sign up via Hipsy:

**https://hipsy.be/event/181039-lunar-new-year-celebration-chinese-vegetarian-cuisine-tea**

After the meal, there will be a tea gathering guided by me, hosted by the Dutch cultural center in our commune, GC Ten Noey.
Chinese Tea Gathering with Wenwei
Date & time: Sunday 15/02, 14:30–16:30
Sign up via GC Ten Noey:

https://tickets.vgc.be/activity/subscribe/NOE_LR_2025_Theebijeenkomst_met_Wenwei_Zhang

This will be a small and intimate gathering to celebrate Chinese New Year, with around 8 participants.

Please read the details below — if this resonates with you and you’d like to celebrate together, you’re very welcome to join us.

About the food gathering
• The meal will be fully vegetarian
• I’ll be cooking comfortable food with nostalgic flavours - dishes that feel good for my body after eating
• This is not fine dining, and I’m not professionally trained as a cook - Think of it as a tablée experience, where we consciously share food together
• I’ll be using mushrooms and soy products, so please keep this in mind if you have allergies
Why I do this
• As a vegetarian, I often get bored with the very few vegetarian options in restaurants, so I wanted to create an experience I personally would enjoy
• I love making people to discover new flavours, this is one of the reasons why i host tea gatherings
Drinks included
• One comforting Chinese herbal drink that I’ll prepare
• One aged fermented pu er tea with aged tangerine peel to finish the meal
• Feel free to bring your own drinks if you like, alcohol or non alcohol
Menu

To be honest, I’m still playing with different ideas, there’s a lot I’d love to try. The menu below is is a reference:

• Marinated tomatoes with shiso and salted plum
• Sour and spicy crunchy wood ear mushroom
• ”salad“Sautéed tofu skin with vegetables (40g protein per 100g in this tofu skin ) - or Hakka style stuffed tofu ?
• Sautéed Potatoes with Lao Gan Ma sauce
• Greek black rice (or maybe “multigrain rice”)
• Daikon, shiitake mushroom and ginger soup
• Dessert: Cantonese sweet soup with silver ear mushroom, red dates, lily bulbs, lotus seeds and goji berries.
• Both soups are very warming and nourishing , esp. the sweet one, which is almost like a ”beauty soup“ in China.

More abou the Guided Chinese tea experience:

to sign up: https://www.tennoey.be/fr/activiteiten/rencontre-autour-dun-avec-wenwei-zhang

We will start with a short offering ritual using fruits and drinks, to express gratitude to our ancestors and to all the conditions that allow us to gather.

Then, we will share a guided tea tasting of carefully selected teas from different mountains in China, appreciated for their strong Cha Qi and grown in harmony with nature and our health.

Both gatherings will be guided in the same spirit as my regular tea events, emphasizing beauty, presence, and honest and authentic connections. Silence may be included at times.

Whenever possible, I provide Chinese ingredients sourced from organic farms in China, produced by farmers who care for their soil. Fresh ingredients are sourced from my cooperative supermarket BEES Coop, and some from Chinese supermarkets in Brussels.

Teas are selected from producers who follow natural rhythms, respect traditional practices, and explore Chinese tea culture in a contemporary context.

Yours,
Wenwei

We receive, we give, we create, and we flourish