INSTANT FOOD

instant food: translation

The Chinese were first exposed to instant food in 1960s. It was largely instant noodles. Today, China has a large variety of instant foods. Customarily, the Chinese regard wheaten and rice foods as zhushi (the main part of a meal) and the rest as fushi (auxiliary part of a meal). Therefore, apart from instant noodles, rice, porridge and all kinds of instant frozen breads and dumplings, there are also instant meats, vegetables and tofu products packaged in cans or vacuumed plastic bags.

Instant noodles claim a 60 per cent share of the Chinese instant food market.

In 2000, there were 158 instant noodle factories with a total annual output of 360 tons. A study found that the market still had large room for development: while individual Japanese were eating an average of forty-four packages of instant noodles annually, the Chinese were consuming only fifteen packages per person. Competition has since ensued. The Japanese instant noodle inventor Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd, vowed to beat the Taiwanese brand names Kangshifu [Master Kang] and Tongyi [Unification], which, together with seven other mainland companies, were enjoying the lion’s share of the Chinese instant noodle market. The battle was joined by Chunqi Food Co., Ltd, from Shanghai. It has been marketing aggressively a series of Chinese instant foods, covering the whole range of a traditional Chinese meal—from main and auxiliary foods to stews and soups. It also focuses on instant medicinal foods and instant sauces, with which a dish can be made in an instant even by ‘dummies’.