Feb. 12, Thursday -- The Good Life Garden at UC Davis’ Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science will host a culinary event at the Barton Art Gallery in Sacramento, exploring the foods that various Asian cultures prepare to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Guiding participants through the evening event will be Thy Tran, a professional chef who writes literary nonfiction about food, kitchen rituals and culture. Tran will discuss how Asian cultures celebrate the Lunar New Year, and the significance of the foods they eat during this holiday season.

Her presentation will be followed by a tasting of Lunar New Year dishes representing Chinese, Korean, Nepalese and Vietnamese cuisine, as well as Asian beer.

Tran is founder and director of the Asian Culinary Forum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Asian food around the world, and proprietor of Wandering Spoon, an online culinary resource. She is a co-author of “Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Companion: The A to Z Guide to Everyday Cooking, Equipment & Ingredients.”

The Lunar New Year event is open to the public, however seating is limited. More information and tickets, costing $45 per person, are available from the Good Life Garden at http://www.goodlifegarden.ucdavis.edu/event_list.