A traditional feast's new tastes

The restaurant chain Meizhoudongpo sells larou, a kind of cured meat that's a must for Lunar New Year's feasts in Sichuan. [Photo provided to China Daily]

As people born after 1995 come to set the Spring Festival menu, they're serving novel flavors, and more dishes from other regions and countries, Li Yingxue reports.

Larou, a type of cured meat, is an essential Chinese New Year's ingredient for people in Sichuan province, for whom it represents not just a festive tradition, but also the taste of home.

For those who've experienced the enchantment of a Sichuan winter, it's a season painted with the rich hues of smoky aromas — imagine cypress branches being used to ignite a bonfire, as tendrils of smoke gracefully envelop the cherished larou sausages.

In Beijing, the Meizhoudongpo restaurant chain, which is known for Sichuan cuisine, is offering diners a taste of authentic larou. Its annual larou offering, savored only once a year during the Spring Festival season, has long been loved by customers.

This year, the chain has upgraded its larou production by selecting the black pigs used in the meat's making, according to Zhou Miao, general manager of the chain's brand marketing center.

"Every year, many loyal customers eagerly await the release of our Chinese New Year goods. As soon as the larou products hit the market, we receive numerous orders," Zhou says.

As the Year of the Dragon approaches, the sale of Lunar New Year goods and especially food is brimming with festive spirit across the country. Gift packages and boxes with unique features are selling like hot cakes, with the post-1995 generation taking the lead in family Spring Festival shopping, driving a surge in online sales.

Restaurants and food merchants from different regions are striking a balance between tradition and innovation, providing customers with a mix of traditionally rich-flavored New Year goods and unique creative options, catering to the changing tastes of the market.

According to Zhou, Meizhoudongpo has been making Chinese New Year goods for more than a decade, and preparation of this year's larou offerings commenced as early as September. In addition to cured sausages, they include cured spareribs, pork belly, and a type of chicken that undergoes a distinctive air-drying process.

Elaborating on the meticulous 28-day process their larou undergoes, Zhou says that the fresh meat receives a spa-like rub with Sichuan peppercorns and salt. It then airdries for five days, undergoes smoking with fruitwood, and then continues to air dry in the sun. After this journey, the larou emerges with a glossy appearance, crystal-clear texture, and the subtle fragrance of fruitwood. It can be enjoyed steamed, stir-fried, or stewed, making it an indispensable New Year flavor for Sichuan people, Zhou says.

"Unlike traditional outdoor household production, we take a centralized factory approach. However, we meticulously replicate the temperature and humidity of Sichuan during December of the lunar calendar to ensure the quality of our larou. This way, the weather doesn't compromise the final taste," explains Zhou.

For the coming Year of the Dragon, Man Ho Restaurant in Beijing has rolled out a variety of Chinese New Year gift boxes. According to Dong Yan, the restaurant manager, this year's offerings include a diverse range of traditional New Year goods like pastries, rice cakes, sweet dumplings, braised items, and poon choi, along with stylish gift baskets.

"Poon choi, a traditional Cantonese dish, is in high demand, with many people choosing it as the main dish for their reunion dinner. It symbolizes joy and abundance, like a treasure trove," explains Dong.

"Another reason is because preparing poon choi is complex and time-consuming. Many families find it inconvenient to make themselves, so they buy it ready-made."

A gift box of glutinous-rice cakes shaped like carp and other traditional snacks. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Dong also highlights the carp-shaped rice cake, a traditional delicacy made by their restaurant every year. The symbolic dish, representing surplus, is a household staple. "Traditionally, it's steamed, but we also suggest pan-frying for a unique flavor," Dong suggests.

The restaurant has also added Chinese-style snacks to the rice cake gift box, each with an auspicious name like "Good Things Happen "or "Prosperity in the Year of the Dragon".

Younger crowds

Young people are increasingly turning to online shopping for their New Year purchases. The New Year Shopping Festival on Tmall and JD kicked off on Wednesday, accompanied by corresponding promotions on livestreaming platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou.

From a special cognac edition for the Year of the Dragon from France, and deep-sea fish oil from Norway, to local delights such as Xinghualou brand pastries, Altay white-spotted dogfish, and Chagan Lake winter-caught fathead fish, a range of global products is already available on Tmall in readiness.

In mid-January, Tmall unveiled a report on the flavor trends of the 2024 Tmall New Year Shopping Festival, revealing that over half of the users placing orders for New Year goods on Taobao were born after 1995, and are taking on the role as decision-makers for family New Year goods.

Zhang Peng, the head of the food and fresh produce industry at Tmall, explains that New Year's dinners organized by the post-1995 generation tend to include more new varieties compared to traditional hometown flavors.

More cross-regional cuisines are making their way to the table. For example, people from Zhejiang love to buy Inner Mongolian lamb, and individuals from southern regions are also developing a taste for northeastern fish, Zhang says.

Well-known, time-honored brands are also stepping up their game with a diverse range of traditional food gift boxes.

Huguosi Snack's flagship store, for instance, has put together a New Year's gift box featuring 10 classic Beijing snacks. This year, they've also introduced special pastries adorned with motifs like dragons, fish and symbols of prosperity.

Yuhuatai Restaurant in Beijing is offering a 268-yuan ($37) New Year combo that includes a delightful assortment of specialties such as jujube cake, a steamed bun assortment, rose buns and golden fish cake.

While the Feidachu Fried Pork with Chili restaurant chain is open for business as usual during this year's Spring Festival, serving authentic Hunan cuisine to customers nationwide, they've also introduced a special Chinese New Year gift box that blends food with cultural elements. It includes festive items like couplets, red envelopes, desk calendars and small couplet fridge stickers — all common elements of the Spring Festival. Renowned calligrapher Luo Jieliang has written the couplets, and there are nine red envelopes symbolizing the nine sons of the dragon.

The gift box is adorned with the Chinese character fu (blessing) on the front, and comes with a hook, making it easy to hang up as a decorative piece with the character fu proudly displayed.

A gift box from the restaurant Fengtian contains smoked, stewed items. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Fengtian Restaurant in Shenyang, Liaoning province, known for its northeastern Chinese cuisine, has introduced two gift boxes featuring traditional northern Chinese New Year delicacies.

In the smoked, stewed items gift box, there are specialties like smoked, stewed pork knuckle, whole chicken, pig trotters and pig ears. Northeastern cuisine involves stewing meat in soybean sauce before it is smoked to give it a distinctive flavor.

After marinating in sauce, the pork knuckle is placed on a rack, and sugar and pine needles are placed on the bottom of the pot. As the pot is heated, the smoky aroma of sugar and pine needles infuses the pork knuckle. "Northeast China boasts a range of sauces, with each city in Liaoning having its unique taste," Ren Pangbo, the general manager, explains.

A gift box of pastries features beef-tongue cakes and other handmade treats that evoke childhood nostalgia among many Chinese. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The pastry gift box includes six pastries like beef-tongue cakes, handmade oven pastries and walnut crisps. Luguo, or "oven pastries", are square, with a crispy outer layer, and their name comes from the baking process in an oven.

"Oven pastries are a traditional northeastern treat made from simple ingredients like eggs, flour, sugar, oil, baking soda and sesame. Since they're rare nowadays, we've combined various traditional pastries into a gift box, allowing customers to savor childhood memories," Ren says.