Queues for Spring Festival treats
The festive flavor is strong at Shanghai's time-honored restaurants and food stores which are packed with people preparing nianhuo (New Year goods) as Spring Festival approaches.
They have given a new twist to some traditional Chinese Lunar New Year delicacies such as babaofan (steamed sweetened glutinous rice with eight different ingredients) and niangao, glutinous rice cake.
The Sunya Cantonese Restaurant on the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall has prepared semi-finished food products, delicatessens and traditional desserts for sumptuous Spring Festival banquets.
The restaurant, which dates back to 1926, is taking a creative approach to babaofan.
It is using new ingredients such as a special black glutinous rice made by boiling with the juice of crushed blueberry leaves in the dessert instead of common rice, said executive chef Huang Renkang. The history of the rice use dates back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
"The eight-treasure rice is a representative food of the festival, while the black glutinous rice represents Jiangnan (areas south of the Yangtze River) flavor," he said. "We have prepared more diversified foods than last year's festival."
"Babaofan and songgao (a soft and fluffy rice cake with red bean paste filling) are among the best-selling products since our 'nianhuo bazaar' started on Sunday because they are traditional Lunar New Year foods in China," said Chen Jie, a sales employee at the restaurant.
More than 1,000 babaofan have been sold each day at the restaurant since Sunday.
The majority of nianhuo buyers are middle-aged and older, said Chen.
The restaurant also sells danjiao, or egg dumplings, and hotpot foods.
Danjiao is a must-eat food during the festival as its golden color and ingot shape are omens of wealth and happiness.
"I like glutinous foods like niangao and tangyuan (glutinous rice balls with sweet or salty fillings), and I have stocked up some glutinous snacks for the festival," said Wang Meijing, a Shanghai retiree in her 60s who lives in the Beixinjing Subdistrict of Changning District.
"I come here around Spring Festival every year and I bought semi-finished dishes like shrimp and beef as usual because they taste good," said Xu Wenshuang, another Shanghai resident who lives in Baoshan District.
Xing Hua Lou, one of the city's oldest brands, is packed with customers on Tuesday storing up goods for the festival.
Xing Hua Lou, which dates back to 1851, has prepared a variety of nianhuo gift boxes containing snacks, semi-finished dishes, delicatessen items and Cantonese-style roast meat.
The items all bear auspicious names signifying family reunions, wealth, happiness and a prosperous year ahead.
The quanjiafu (family reunion) casserole is a must at nianyefan, or the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, for Shanghainese.
"It contains 10 auspicious foods such as danjiao resembling gold ingots, and baiyebao, pork meat wrapped in bean curd skin, meaning good fortune rolls," said Xu Yingjun, catering director of Xing Hua Lou.
"The food ingredients are handmade by our chefs and the casserole is known as a jubaopen (cornucopia) in Chinese," said Xu.
It has proved popular as thousands are sold daily.
Xing Hua Lou has also prepared some items popular with Shanghainese such as Shanghai-style xunyu (freshwater fish that’s fried and braised in a sweet sauce) and stir-fried shrimps.
Cantonese-style roast meat such as chicken and duck, and snacks such as babaofan, water chestnut cake and taro cake are also available.
"We have taken an innovative approach this year on niangao, or New Year cake, by launching new flavors of coconut milk and orange juice," said Xu. Niangao is a traditional Spring Festival food as it sounds like a Chinese phrase of "getting better year after year."
"A special babaofan with floating salted egg yolk filling has also been on the menu this year," he said.
"The sales peak is expected next week, and many young people are also picking nianhuo for their parents and grandparents," said Zhi Jing, Xing Hua Lou's assistant manager.
"Because some people failed to reserve nianyefan at restaurants, they prefer buying semi-finished foods for the most important meal of the year for convenience," she added.
"Seniors of my family prefer time-honored brands and I want to pick some foods for them as gifts," said Liu Yong, a Shanghai resident in his 30s, at the restaurant.
"My parents want to eat nianyefan at home for a homely feel. They have been keeping busy doing housework in a year, and semi-finished dishes will make the nianyefan banquet more convenient for them."
"The foods here remind me of my childhood and they have a familiar taste," said Li Mingming, a Shanghai resident in her 70s who lives nearby. "It has become a tradition for me to buy nianhuo here every year like my parents did in the past."