Hi, I’m Lily. I’m a girl from China. Chinese people usually eat longevity (长寿) noodles on their birthdays. Longevity noodles mean the long life for people.

But many young people like to eat cakes. They often make a wish (愿望) before eating a cake. They think it is interesting. The cake is delicious, but we should not forget our traditional birthday food—longevity noodles. My mother always cooks longevity noodles for me on my birthday. I want to learn to cook longevity noodles from my mother. My grandfather’s sixty-sixth birthday is next Sunday, and I want to cook longevity noodles for my grandfather. Grandfather may feel very happy. This can be the best birthday present for my grandfather.

It’s great to cook longevity noodles for your family on their birthdays.

What would people like to eat on their birthday? In fact, the birthday foods are different in different countries.

In many countries, people have birthday cakes with candles. The number of candles is the person’s age. The birthday person must make a wish and blow out the candles. If he or she blow out all the candles in one go, the wish will come true. In the UK, people sometimes put a candy in a birthday cake. The child with the candy is lucky.

In China, it’s getting popular to have cake on your birthday. But many people will eat very long noodles for their birthday. They never cut up the noodles because the noodles are a symbol of long life. Chinese people also eat eggs on their birthday. They are a symbol of life and good luck.

All of these birthday foods may be different, but the ideas are the same.

People in different parts of the world eat different things. In South China people eat rice everyday. They eat it for breakfast, lunch or supper. And people usually eat rice with fish, meat and vegetables.

The Japanese eat rice, too. They also eat a lot of fish because they live near the sea. It’s easy for them to get fish. Sometimes, they eat raw (生的) fish.

In western countries such as Britain, Australia and the U.S., the most important food is bread and potatoes. People there can cook potatoes in many different ways. In Britain, the most popular food is fish and chips. Sometimes people cook this kind of food at home, but they usually buy it from the shop. They eat it at home, in the workplace, in the park or even on the road. People call it “take-away” food.