Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Chinese palate has diverse tastes

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Shrink wrapped quail eggs, lifestyle choices and social media are all playing their parts in what and how Chinese will eat heading into the new decade.
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Chinese media platform company Radii has analysed latest market trends in the country’s enormous food market as the middle class continues to grow and become a more sophisticated, discerning customer for food imports from the likes of New Zealand.

In its report food journalist Mayura Jain identifies takeout food delivery showing no signs of growth experienced in the past five years slowing down. 

The US$40 billion sector is now dominated by two main players, Ele.me, backed by Alibaba, and Meituan-Dianping.  

The Meituan-Dianping operation represents a union of a heavyweight food app company with Dianping, a restaurant review service.

However, Jain points to the burgeoning waste problem the takeout service has bought with it and growing pressure by the government on companies to deal with the mounting rubbish problem.

The increase in single person households in the larger cities is also resulting in an increase in the meals-for-one category, even for traditionally communal dishes like hot pot. 

The increase is put down to more millennials choosing to stay single, with the cost of child-rearing a major disincentive, particularly for the growing numbers of young, educated, single women keen to advance their careers. 

Despite China ending its One Child policy five years ago the birth rate has continued to plummet with 2018 recording the country’s lowest since 1949. 

Chinese social media also abounds with comments from women wary of the expectations having a child will put on them and the costs of child care.

The fastest growing sector of the Chinese food industry is the snack food market, valued at almost half a billion United States dollars by the end of this year.  

As awareness of health and wellbeing rises consumers are also checking out snack items for their salt and fat contents. 

Latest releases include cherry blossom flavoured chips intended to give a sense of reaching into a cherry blossom tree and plucking the flower to eat. 

Shrink-wrapped quail eggs are aimed at the post-gym recovery market wanting a protein shot and chicken flavoured Oreos for eating with pineapple beer all now feature in the growing market.

As the pork shortage resulting from African swine fever continues to bite the world’s largest consumers of pork are also starting to embrace vegetarianism. 

With pork supplies down to 1970s lows, non-meat companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are eying the world’s largest market. 

Jain notes, however, the irony is that China is regarded as the home of mock meat, with replicas of pork and mutton dating back to the Tang Dynasty. 

But the chance for non-meat meat to grow now is also attributed to the impact greater livestock numbers would have on the already compromised environment. 

A company, Dao Foods, is among China’s first foray into non-meat meat products while another company, OmniPork, has developed a pork type meat from pea protein.

The Economist reports despite only 2% of the country being vegetarian, flexitarianism is on the rise with a third of those surveyed in big cities intending to eat less pork, poultry and red meat.

The influence of wanghong or social influencers is also playing a big part in dictating a food’s or food outlet’s success.

One example is a small Shanghai street stall selling fried rice enjoyed by an influencer who shared it online with fans. Demand for the simple dish exploded in a matter of days, requiring police to control the throngs crowding the stall. 

The outlet, Hermes Fried Rice, has since grown to a two-storey restaurant with 3000 orders a day being taken.

The influencer market is valued at US$800m with 10,000 influencers on social platform Weibo with over a million followers each.

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