Tet or Lunar New Year

Today is the Lunar New Year and we move into the year of the horse.

Every year means something in terms of personal good wishes and what the year may bring.
Health, Happiness, Wealth, traditional greetings.

Families and friends will celebrate with whole fish dishes, dumplings, oranges, longevity noodle broth, most dishes signify wealth and happiness.

Lots of firecrackers, and gifts mostly those little red enveloppes stuffed with brand new crisp paper money. There will be prayers to the different Gods and to the Jade Emperor in Heaven.

While I lived in China it was always a fun time of the year, I really liked the festive atmosphere and the continuous fireworks illuminating the sky of Beijing. Going to the various Temples to visit with the Gods. Temple of the Earth and the Temple of Heaven and then there was another very famous and ancient one in the near my house, people went there to pray to the God of Wealth and the various other deities burning incense sticks.

In Vietnam it is called the TET New Year and is celebrated along the same lines. As in Cambodia and Laos and South Korea. A time of lavish decorations and festivities.

Those little food products you do not always notice

For many years living abroad we would encounter food stuff that reminded us of home but would not be items we would consume or buy at anytime, like SPAM, Nescafé, Salada tea, Marlboro cigarettes, these 4 items are and were famous around the world. Often introduced by armies during an armed conflict like the Korean War (1950-1953) or simply by multinational companies who expanded their markets to foreign countries.

The local population took to them and often saw these products as a luxury. We did not and could not understand why these products had such status. Often there is quite a history behind such products, like SPAM being imported by US troops during the Korean conflict. The Korean population was starving and being able to buy a can of SPAM at the US Army PX was a luxury but only if you had the connections and the money. Later this product took on an aura all of its own and to this day is given in elaborate gift boxes. Imagine doing this here, your friends would think you are joking.

Nescafé has a similar story, at the end of the Second World War in Europe many food staples were simply not available, chocolate, fresh fruit, nylon stockings, cigarettes, coffee. Many countries had a coffee culture going back to the Renaissance when Admiral Christopher Columbus brought it back from the Americas with tobacco, tomatoes, potatoes, oranges and chocolates to name a few native products of the Americas introduced in Europe in the 15th century.

So again the Allies had Nescafé and drank it all the time, the Europeans were curious and envious, quickly a black market was established and Nescafé was available for a price, thus it entered the local life and in countries behind the Iron Curtain, Nescafé became a luxury consumed by the Communist Elite. To this day in countries in the Balkan like Serbia it is still considered chic, though this is changing now with products widely available to all.

In the Middle-East it was Marlboro cigarettes and Benson & Hedges later who dominated the market.
Egypt the largest country and with an important percentage of its population smoking cigarettes there was a huge demand for British or American Tobacco products. Again the elite would set the tone and foreign cigarettes were considered far superior to any local product.

One surprise I had in all my years amongst the Arabs was how popular Johnny Walker Red Label scotch was, only to be outdone by the Black Label brand. I remember in the Sudan whenever we visited Khartoum which was often back in the late 1980's and early 90's everything was paid in cases of scotch. The government was '' officially '' strictly observant of the Sharia.
You needed a curfew pass, you needed some other service from some nice Muslim official
the payment was in Johnny Walker. All Sudanese soldiers at check-points in Khartoum were paid in packages or cartons of cigarettes usually Marlboro, their favorite, God help you if you did not have a pack to give out, they could be very violent. One night a European Consul was badly beaten for refusing to pay the usual bribe.

The joke became that the real name of the Scotch was Johnny Mohamed Walker. I remember one night in Cairo at one of the big supper night clubs at the Meridien Hotel frequented by Saudi Royalty and other Gulf Princes, the scotch would flow. The famous singer and actress Sabah was performing and she would call out to the famous patrons in the audience.
There was next to our table a senior member of the Saudi Royal Family who was enjoying a bottle of Johnny Walker Black label, Sabah asked him how was his friend Johnny. Everyone laughed.

I also remember visiting the Casino at the Marriott Hotel in Zamalek, in a Palace built for the opening of the Suez Canal to house Empress Eugénie of France. The casino had tables for Bacarat and Chemin de fer, Roulette etc... it was only opened to foreigners, Egyptians could not get in.
The Gulf Princes would be there every night and play incredible amounts, I remember one Prince loosing one million dollars in 5 minutes at Roulette, I was stunned. There was an elderly Armenian banker who worked for a Swiss Wealth Fund, I think it was UBS. He was hired by the King of Saudi Arabia to watch over his sons, they had a limit on any bets of 2 million dollars a night. They played so badly that the game was over in 30 minutes tops. This old banker gave wonderful parties at his penthouse apartment in Zamalek close to my home.

What one man considers luxury the other will think is bunk.

Cairo