As the Spring Festival approaches, citizens are in the peak season of preparing for the Lunar New Year. Following the popularity of the TV series “Blooming Flowers,” numerous authentic Shanghai delicacies and long-established brands have garnered attention. Some traditional Shanghai flavors, such as Dingfeng fermented bean curd, are now crossing oceans and becoming a unique delicacy on foreign tables.
According to CCTV Financial Report, streets like Huanghe Road and Jinxian Road in Shanghai have become newly popular “internet celebrity streets,” attracting many locals with their long-established brands of pastries, local cuisine restaurants, and Cantonese restaurants. Early in the morning, a long queue forms outside a long-established snack shop in Shanghai. Among the crowd are both new friends experiencing the freshness and nostalgia-seeking old customers reminiscing about childhood flavors.
At a temperature of 200°C, the well-coated spare ribs are gently placed into the pot and fried for 30 seconds before quickly removing them. Re-fried at a high temperature of 250°C for another 20 seconds, the spare ribs, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, are considered well-fried. When customers order, the chef puts the spare ribs and rice cakes into the braised sauce for a few minutes, sprinkles some spicy soy sauce, and a traditional Shanghai snack, spare ribs with rice cakes, is ready. Yu Jie, the person in charge of a certain long-established snack shop in Shanghai, says they sell nearly 10,000 portions a day, priced at 15 yuan per portion. Therefore, the daily sales amount to around 150,000 yuan, which is a saturated state for a single store.
The popularity of the TV series “Blooming Flowers” has also ignited the craze for various traditional Shanghai flavors. These days, the taste of the New Year is stronger on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, with many long-established department stores launching Lunar New Year festivities. Nut gift boxes, specialty pastries, goods from the north and south, and local cured meats are gradually being shelved. Various dishes and New Year goods with Shanghai characteristics, such as pan-fried ribbonfish, roast goose, eight-treasure chili sauce, scallion-baked crucian carp, smoked fish, and fried shrimp, are attracting many consumers to rush for purchases.
With the continued popularity of the TV series and the spread on social media, fermented bean curd, known as the “Eastern Cheese” and a must-have for congee, has become popular overseas. As the Spring Festival approaches, a long-established fermented bean curd company in Shanghai is working at full capacity, with production lines filled with export orders. He Shengrong, director of the Quality Management Department of a certain food company in Shanghai, introduces that fermented bean curd, referred to as the “Eastern Cheese,” is generally consumed directly on bread by foreigners. The annual export volume is around 130 tons, with the main exports being to Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and North American countries.