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The close correlation between the 24 solar terms and agricultural production gives food a natural high correlation advantage in product innovation and marketing inspired by festivals, solar terms, seasonality and seasonality. So, which category will be the most advantageous?
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Text: Giselle
Source: Foodaily Daily Food (ID: foodaily)
At the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics full of Chinese romance, the opening short film of the countdown to the 24th solar terms of China stunned the world and made the public pay attention to this traditional Chinese culture again. Under the general trend of the rise of the national tide, the emergence of the twenty-four solar terms just provides new materials for people who pay attention to the national tide and traditional Chinese culture with cultural experience, and also provides a new carrier and new export for self-expression and emotional expression.
Screenshot of the countdown to the twenty-four solar terms of the Winter Olympics, image source: Little Red Book Xu Ah Ah
The twenty-four solar terms are a natural calendar summed up by the ancient Chinese through long-term observation of natural phenology and the perception of the four seasons, which is used to guide life and agricultural production, and is related to the harvest of a whole year. In the process of development, with the twenty-four solar terms as the clue throughout the year, many related folk activities have been derived, as well as unique food cultures throughout the country.
The close correlation between the 24 solar terms and agricultural production gives food a natural high correlation advantage in product innovation and marketing inspired by festivals, solar terms, seasonality and seasonality. According to this tradition, at the arrival of each solar term, searching for keywords related to solar terms and folklore science must have one related to "what to eat in this solar term". In the choice of what to eat, you can always see the names of many traditional Chinese pastries.
Peach blossom crisp, image source: the next kitchen is a fat bear
Last year, the baking track was a big hit, among which Xianghe Rao Shop completed the first round of financing of more than 100 million yuan, which made traditional Chinese pastries attract attention again. At the same time, as a must-buy product for traditional festivals such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, traditional Chinese pastries with a strong festive food mentality for a long time or the most competitive category in the development and marketing of the 24th Festival.
Product innovation and marketing opportunities represented by the 24 solar terms can mainly revolve around solar terms, seasonal phenology, traditional festival culture and folklore, and sense of season. The release of many brands' solar term posters seems to have become the norm, but the twenty-four solar terms products do not seem to have formed a strong consumer mentality like the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake.
So, why is traditional Chinese pastry the most competitive category in traditional Chinese holiday marketing? How can Chinese pastry brands do something new and establish a clear new understanding of festivals in the minds of consumers? What are some success stories to refer to? How to make good use of their historical and cultural advantages to tell old stories to newcomers, take advantage of the 24 solar terms of the Winter Olympics to do festivals, seasonal product extensions and marketing momentum, and reintegrate traditional food culture into the dietary life of modern people?
Why is it said that in the twenty-four solar terms innovation,
Traditional Chinese pastries are the most promising categories?
Although there are people who complain that mooncakes are unpalatable every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes are still almost a must-have for every family, and the market is hot every year. I have to admit that in the cognition of festive food, the mature consumer mentality and sense of trust of traditional Chinese pastries are unshakable, running through ancient and modern times. However, compared with the "new Chinese baking" of last year's fire, the adaptability and advantages of traditional Chinese pastries in festival creation and marketing are far more than this.
Image source: Zhiweiguan official flagship store
The history of traditional Chinese pastries, no need to make up a story, you are part of the story
After the accumulation of history, traditional Chinese pastries naturally have the persuasive power to be the exporter of traditional culture.
The festive nature of traditional Chinese pastries has a long history and is justified
In fact, in the long development and evolution of traditional Chinese festivals and the 24 solar terms, Chinese pastries have been accompanied for a long time, not only limited to the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Turning the time back to the Northern Song Dynasty, in the book "Tokyo Dream Record" in which Meng Yuanlao recorded the customs and customs of the Northern Song Capital, many seasonal snacks were recorded. The Dragon Boat Festival has fragrant candy seeds, rice dumplings, and white dumplings, and in June, there are yellow cold dumplings, fat and linen dumplings, turtle sand filling, July Tanabata "also made of oily molasses as a laughing child, called fruit food", and August Autumn Society "each with the cake community wine to send". In September Chongyang, people will give each other steamed cakes made of flour noodles, and they will also use flour noodles to make the shape of a lion barbarian king and put them on the steamed cake, called "lion barbarians".
Chongyang Flower Cake, Image source: Beijing Daoxiang Village
Fast forward to the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, the milk-flavored pastries from the western regions of the Yuan Dynasty were introduced to Yanjing (Beijing), and the word "Rao" also appeared to refer to pastries; the Jiangsu and Zhejiang people who moved north in the Ming Dynasty opened Nanguo Shops in Beijing; the Qing Dynasty built the capital and brought Manchu pastries.
The city under the imperial city has always been at the forefront of trends, inner rolls and innovation, where the north and south pastries learn from each other, and a large number of dim sum shops with names have emerged in the capital and developed into an important industry in the prosperous era of Kangqian. Every New Year's Festival, offering sacrifices, visiting relatives and friends, red and white celebrations, and tributes from the imperial court, rao has become an indispensable food.
Image source: Beijing Fangzhiguan
Traditional Chinese pastries have existed in the history of Chinese foodies for a long time, of course, and the types of dim sum are far more than that. Rainwater dragon whisker cake, stinging donkey rolling, Qingming Qingtuan, Chongyang flower cake, small snow sticks... If you want to sum up the festive snacks all over the country, it must take considerable effort. However, it can be seen from the records after the Northern Song Dynasty that traditional Chinese pastries have long been accompanied by traditional Chinese festivals and are an indispensable part of the sense of festival ceremony.
The integration of north and south has reduced the geographical barrier of Chinese pastries, but has a greater opportunity to break the circle
I believe that foodies who have a little understanding of the history of Beijing Daoxiang Village know that the earliest Daoxiang Village in Beijing, located in Guanyin Temple Street outside the qianmen, is named "Daoxiangcun South Goods Store", which operates southern-style pastries, which are very fresh in Beijing and are popular. Since then, there have been dim sum shops such as "Guixiang Village" and "Daoxiangchun" in the capital, which also deal in southern dim sum.
The Beijing-style pastry represented by Beijing DaoxiangCun can be said to have been greatly influenced by the southern dim sum school in the process of development.
Image source: Beijing Daoxiangcun flagship store
China is vast, and it goes without saying how different dietary habits vary from place to place. However, historically, after the southern migration of the northern ethnic groups during the Tang and Song dynasties, as well as the southern taste of dim sum during the Qing Dynasty, the southern taste of dim sum was transmitted to the north and the southern goods were sold to the north, and the geographical barrier between Chinese dim sum was relatively smaller than other categories. There are always flavors that can impress the taste buds of all over the north and south at the same time.
For example, manchu dim sum Sachima is now more famous brands in the south. For example, although there are various genres of mooncakes in Guangzhou, Su, Beijing, Jin, Chao, and Dian, Cantonese mooncakes are the first in the perennial fault. In the south, there are soft sticky cake balls, and in the north, there are sticky donkeys rolling. Black sesame seeds, bean paste, lotus paste, date paste... These fillings are regular customers in the north and south Chinese dim sum.
It can be seen that in the "unification of the whole country", traditional Chinese pastries still have some innate advantages. Compared with other categories, perhaps Chinese pastries are more acceptable and have a greater chance of breaking the circle.
In the era of scarcity, traditional pastries are a rare sweet bite on important days, and they have become a satisfying taste that the older generation will never forget. However, with the turmoil of modern China, many traditional pastry shops have disappeared, and many dim sum has only existed in the written record. The impact of Western-style baking has further compressed the living space of traditional Chinese baking, and many people once found traditional dim sum old-fashioned, monotonous and unpalatable.
However, with the improvement of the new generation's self-confidence and sense of identity in Chinese culture, traditional food culture and festival culture have also received more and more attention, and there is a great potential for recovery. The Chinese dim sum that frequently appears in the traditional festival festival will certainly have a great opportunity in the wave of national tide revival.
Can brush enough sense of existence all year round,
Why are Japanese traditions and fruits synonymous with seasonality?
Also as a traditional pastry, Japanese washiko is an excellent representative of the ripe super expressiveness of seasonal attributes and seasonal attributes, and the large and small Japanese festivals throughout the year can be said to be clearly arranged by Wagashi. For traditional Chinese pastries, Japanese washiko can be said to be a very suitable reference case.
From the aristocratic style and social infiltration to the daily culture of the commoners, and the fruit has developed into a representative of the sense of the seasons
In Japan, adzuki beans are a very important raw material for washiko, and most of them are used in the manufacture of washiko, so it is believed that the change in the consumption of the fruit is directly proportional to the change in the consumption of the red bean. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the consumption of red beans has been almost stable in the past 15 years from 2018 onwards, which can be inferred that the overall sales of heguo were almost stable in the nearly 10 years before 2018.
The reason why Heguozi can maintain such a stable sales volume is inseparable from its strong "sense of season" and "sense of festival". And the source of these two properties, there are two paths.
Spring Kimono Molding Wakako "Bonbori", "Cherry Blossoms", "Rape Blossoms", Kata Guigui source: Ryugetsudo
The first is Kyokoko, which developed in Kyoto during the Edo period. The development of the fruit is closely related to the development of the Japanese tea ceremony, which can only be enjoyed by the upper class, and the relationship between the fruit and the tea ceremony is the most elegant and meticulous development in Kyoto.
Jingguozi is not only a tea-flavored refreshment, but also a cultural carrier to experience the changing scenery of the four seasons, carry the meaning of classical literature, and set off the atmosphere of the festival, from the five senses of touch, smell, taste, vision, and hearing to bring people the enjoyment of beauty, where there are Jingguozi, you can build a lyrical scene between people, relatives and friends gather and talk.
The Kyo fruit mainly reflects the sense of season through the name, color, and shape. Along with the development of Kyoto Higashiyama culture, the formation of artistic culture including short songs and haiku sentences is also related to fruits.
Kyokoko inspired by autumn autumn leaves Autumn raid, image source: Keiji Craftsman Tsuruya Yoshinobu official website
The second is the Washiko culture that developed in the common people's class during the Edo period.
One of the biggest features of the Edo period was the rise of the food culture of the common people, and the confectionery that was originally only enjoyed by the upper class began to spread to the citizens. In order to meet the diverse needs, dim sum shops for refreshments and wedding ceremonies have been born, as well as dim sum shops for daily consumption.
The development of a variety of sub-categories has jointly promoted the development of this period and fruit, and fruit has gradually become an indispensable food for major festivals, festivals, and important days of personal life.
Due to the different ways of celebrating festivals passed down from place to place, these regional characteristics have also been preserved in the local washi, which is also the reason for the large number of local washiko shops.
Some summer and fruit, image credit: SHUN GATE
Once a year + "seasonal limited skin", the modern molding and fruit seasonal sense culture
Nowadays, the seasonal sense of washiko is reflected on the one hand through grass cakes, cherry blossom cakes, cypress dumplings, and water goat soup, which are only sold in certain seasons, and disappear from the counter after the season, and if they are missed, they will have to wait until the next year to eat snacks. On the other hand, it is through the different shapes and colors of the fruits to express the characteristics of the seasons, such as cherry blossoms, rape flowers, hydrangeas, morning glory, camellias and other seasonal flowers, persimmons, chestnuts and other autumn fruit shapes, summer goldfish and winter snow rabbit shapes and so on.
Cherry blossom cake, image source: SHUN GATE
In addition, in the cultural life of the Japanese people, whether it is in the traditional New Year' Day, Festival, Daughter's Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Obon Festival, harvest celebration and other days, or in birth, enrollment, graduation, adult style, marriage, childbirth, funeral, offering and other life events, whether for personal use or as a gift, Wakako is essential, which also brings sales opportunities for Wakako.
For example, on the official website of The Tiger House, an old shop of Japanese fruits, you can see a "Washoku Calendar", which introduces some important time nodes corresponding to Wagyu. At these points in time, whether it is a long-established shop or a cutting-edge brand, whether it is a specialty store, a department store food area or a convenience store, you can see the seasonal and fruit of each brand everywhere. This washiko culture has even influenced Western-style baking in Japan, and Western-style baking products that use festival and seasonal elements have become more and more abundant in recent years.
Tiger House and Fruit Calendar, image source: Tiger House official website
Not only rice dumplings and mooncakes,
Traditional Chinese pastry seasonal products emerge,
Long-established brands with heritage advantages are particularly active
When it comes to the seasonal products of traditional Chinese pastries in China, most people's first reaction is definitely only to think of mooncakes and rice dumplings. In fact, in addition to these two mature categories, some representative traditional Chinese pastry brands have also launched other solar terms-related products, and have even built their complete 24-year solar terms product line.
Beijing Daoxiangcun 24 solar terms series - spring, summer, autumn and winter, ancient for modern use, creative retro
Speaking of twenty-four solar terms products, Beijing Daoxiangxin can be said to be a pioneer brand.
Since the autumn of 2009, Beijing Daoxiangcun has launched 24 solar terms for many consecutive years. Through interviews with nutritionists and folklore experts, a large number of analytical studies were carried out to comprehensively launch the 24 solar terms series of health foods that conform to natural health and folk traditions.
Among the 24 solar terms series products, there are products in the more traditional form such as Lichun Spring Roll, Chongyang Flower Cake and Qingming Qingtuan, as well as products such as Rainwater Spring Cake, Gu Yu Chun Sprout Cake, Xiao man gui round cake, Bailu sweet potato cake, etc., which use seasonal ingredients, ingredients with seasonal imagery, or ingredients that conform to the traditional habits of seasonal diet and health, as well as creative products such as mango green plum fruit.
Mango green plum fruit, image source: Beijing Daoxiangcun official website
In addition, Beijing Daoxiangcun also released the "Twenty-four Solar Terms Health Culture Manual". It not only caters to the tradition of the Chinese people's pursuit of health, but also integrates the strong Chinese festival culture with the food culture of Daoxiang Village. While exporting seasonal culture to modern consumers and rebuilding consumers' seasonal habits, it also deepens the brand's image in the minds of consumers, leaving new memory points and reasons to repeat consumer brand products.
Xianghe Rao Shop - new bottles of old wine, discover new categories of traditional festival food
As a representative of Jin-style dim sum, Xianghe Rao shop not only does traditional dim sum such as guifei cake and jujube crisp do well, but also makes some innovative explorations in festive foods.
For example, in the Dragon Boat Festival, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Chronicles of Duanyang" has a record: "Before each Duanyang, the Zhumen of the Fudi Were Fed with Rice Dumplings, and supplemented by cherries, mulberries, water chestnuts, peaches, apricots, five poisonous cakes, rose cakes and other things." "The ancients not only raced dragon boats and ate rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, but also believed that the early summer was the time when poisons were active, so they would eat "five poison cakes" to pray for the elimination of diseases and strengthen the body.
The Dragon Boat Festival, which consumes five poisonous cakes, once appeared in CCTV news, and Xianghe Rao shop took a different path, jumped out of the Dragon Boat Dumpling Arena, and launched the Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional northern dim sum, in 2020.
Image source: CCTV13 chaowen world screenshot
The five poison cakes of Xianghe Rao Shop use traditional pulp lifting techniques, and the surface of the dim sum has a convex and concave five-poison pattern. Lotus seeds and fungus are selected for the filling, accompanied by a delicate and oily, egg-flavored crust, which is rich and layered.
Xianghe Rao Shop Five poisonous cakes, image source: Xianghe Rao Shop public number
In addition, Xianghe Rao Shop also launched products such as red date brown sugar yuan qi crisp limited to the winter solstice, and Jiuyang cake limited by Xiao Han. Not only the traditional customs and stories and the traditional dim sum recipe, butter, yogurt and other modern ingredients combined with traditional ingredients such as dates, brown sugar, goji berries, chrysanthemums and other traditional ingredients, the new bottle of old wine, people can't help but want to experience these scenes of dim sum, taste a taste.
Apricot Blossom Building - innovative taste unexpectedly became popular, Jiangnan Qingming pastry became a national Internet celebrity
If there are any major events that happened in the domestic Chinese pastry industry in 2016, then one of them must be the popularity of the Xinghualou Youth League.
Around the Qingming Festival in 2016, the long-established Apricot Blossom Building launched the salted egg yolk meat pine green dough for the first time in Shanghai with a total turnover of more than 10 million yuan, and it was necessary to queue for 6 hours during the peak sales period. In the same year, Shen Dacheng, Qiao Jiazha and other long-established pastry shops also successively launched salted egg yolk meat pine stuffed green dough. Since then, every year during the Qingming Period, all the long-established brands have to carry out the Youth League War, and people are also happy to queue up in long lines to buy in stores every year.
With the trend of the Xinghualou Qingtuan's popular network, in addition to selling in traditional stores, the net red Qingtuan has also appeared in a packaging version with a long shelf life, and has entered the sales channels such as convenience stores and online stores. The Youth League went directly from a kind of Jiangnan Qingming seasonal dim sum to the whole country, and became a pastry "shared by the whole people" before and after the Qingming Dynasty.
Xinghualou Youth League, image source: Xinghualou food flagship store
The popularity of the youth group is inseparable from the bold taste innovation of traditional pastries. However, with the emergence of crab powder green dough, pickled fresh green dough, Buddha jumping wall green dough, coconut cheese green dough, flowing taro mud green dough, silver ear green dough, Longjing green dough, sour and spicy chicken claw green dough, small fried yellow beef green dough, pepper skin egg green dough, snail powder green dough, etc. And even gradually outrageous "innovative taste", some people think that the green dough is still the traditional bean paste filling and marantou filling is the most authentic Qingming taste.
Although the "innovative taste" youth group is popular, or the traffic is huge for a while, it remains to be seen whether it can maintain its staying power and stabilize its output, rather than disappear after a few years of popularity.
brief summary
The ancients relied on the sky to eat, and did not eat from time to time. The development of modern agricultural technology has made many foods lift the "seasonal seal" and become available throughout the year. Still, feeling the seasonal changes and festive atmosphere through seasonal, specific foods is still a fun and happy little thing in mass life. For modern people, it is no longer a family farmer, and perceiving the changes of the four seasons has become an important guide for daily rituals in addition to guiding the thickness of clothing.
However, with the lack of food resources to great abundance, the changes in the eating habits, concepts and tastes of generations of consumers, and the impact of foreign food culture, many people have gradually failed to experience, or even unwilling to take the initiative to experience the happiness brought by traditional old tastes.
Fortunately, with the infiltration of national tide culture, recent consumers have begun to have a huge interest in traditional culture. The long history of China for 5,000 years, rich folk culture and food culture, and rich products have given brands too many materials that can be excavated and may make the public re-appreciate the interests of the ancients.
The popularity of the twenty-four solar terms is undoubtedly a chance for traditional Chinese pastries. How to make good use of the historical and cultural advantages of the category, be the explorer, narrator, communicator, and even guide of traditional culture, empower the category and industry, and "cultural upgrade" of product strength is a problem worth thinking about for all traditional Chinese pastry brands in the future. I hope that traditional Chinese baking can give itself a satisfactory answer sheet, and even set a new example for all category brands that intend to excavate and reproduce traditional Chinese culture.
bibliography
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[2] The excitement of traditional Chinese pastries is far beyond your imagination! , CIB Institute of Baking Technology, 2022.02.17;
[3] Kyoto's confectionery culture, intangible cultural heritage connecting Kyoto;
[4] History of Japanese sweets, Shiroan;
[5] Strengths and Weaknesses of the Japanese Confectionery Industry- Expectations for Exports and Inbound Tourism, Mitsuo Yabu, Executive Director, Japan Confectionery Association, April 2018
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