KPAC to Celebrate Lunar New Year Friday With Potluck Dinner

The Korean Parent Advisory Council (KPAC) is sponsoring its second annual Lunar New Year potluck dinner Friday at 6 p.m. at the Fort Lee Recreation Center. The Lunar New Year—a major holiday in some Asian countries called Seollal in Korean—is also known as “Chinese New Year” or “Korean New Year” and actually falls on Monday (Jan. 23) this year, according to KPAC president Christina Yoo.

Friday’s potluck dinner, which is open to everyone, is a chance to get together and celebrate the holiday, which is normally a three-day celebration in Korea, Yoo said.

“It’s a potluck dinner,” she said. “Obviously people bring food if they could. If not, we’re more than happy to take donations, but it’s not obligated.”

Traditionally during the Lunar New Year, Koreans eat Dduk Gook, a soup made with oval shaped, soft rice cakes, but the main dish KPAC members are preparing at the recreation center Friday is something that may be more familiar to non-Koreans who have ever been to a Korean restaurant.

“With the limited kitchen facilities at the Rec Center, we’re just having basic bibimbap.” Yoo said. “It’s rice with vegetables on top, basically a vegetable stir fry, and then it’s mixed with a hot pepper sauce. We’re preparing that as a main dish, and then we’re asking KPAC members to just bring in a dish to share together. If we had a bigger kitchen, maybe we could [serve Dduk Gook] one year, but it’s kind of limited. Having 200 people, serving soup is going to be too much. We need a commercial facility.”

She said in fact that last year roughly 200 people did indeed attend the event, and that this year organizers are preparing for at least that many people.

“This is the second year,” Yoo said. “Each school does have an international dinner so people are familiar with a potluck dinner, but having all six schools together, it’s the second annual.”

She added that there will also be games for kids, including Yutnori—a stick game traditionally played during holidays like Seollal—and Gongginori, or “five stones,” which is a game popular with young girls, played by tossing and catching pebbles.

KPAC’s Lunar New Year potluck dinner is Friday starting at 6 p.m. at the Fort Lee Recreation Center. For more information, email fortleekpac@gmail.com.

And Sae hae bok mani badeuseyo! (Happy New Year!)