One of China’s most famous food critics would rather see hotpot disappear, but hundreds of Chinese netizens do not agree at all.
After a hotpot restaurant became top trending on Weibo yesterday for recruiting ‘Ivy League’ graduates as waiters, another hotpot controversy has hit Chinese social media.
This time, the renowned Hong Kong food critic and cookbook writer Chua Lam (蔡瀾, Cai Lan) has stirred discussions among Chinese netizens over comments he made during an appearance on the Hunan TV talk show Day Day Up (天天向上/Tiantian Shangtian), SupChina and The Guardian reported on January 3rd.
When asked by one of the hosts of the show what dishes he would love to see disappear from the world, Chua answered: hotpot.
“Hotpot is the cooking style that lacks culture the most,” the food critic added: “You just throw the ingredients in there, there’s nothing tasty about it.” Because the hotpot allegedly has no cultural significance and because the cooking style is so easy, the critic suggested it might as well disappear altogether.
Chua Lam is a popular personality on social media. On his Weibo account, he has more than ten million fans.
Manya Koetse is the founder and editor-in-chief of whatsonweibo.com. She is a writer, public speaker, and researcher (Sinologist, MPhil) on social trends, digital developments, and new media in an ever-changing China, with a focus on Chinese society, pop culture, and gender issues. She shares her love for hotpot on hotpotambassador.com. Contact at manya@whatsonweibo.com, or follow on Twitter.
WEIBO SHORT | Weibo Shorts are short articles on trending topics
While the state visit of Xi Jinping to Russia is in full swing, a smaller hashtag dedicated to the Xi-Putin meeting on Weibo is about what was served during the big dinner on Xi’s first night in Moscow (#两国元首今晚吃什么#).
The hashtag was hosted by RT (Russia Today), the Russian state media outlet which also has an account on Weibo (@今日俄罗斯RT) with over 1,7 million followers.
The account has been posting a lot about the “Putin Xi Meeting” (普习会) over the past few days.
The menu was as follows:
◼︎ Far Eastern Seafood appetizer (远东海鲜开胃菜)
◼︎ Blini with Quail & Mushrooms (鹌鹑和蘑菇煎饼)
◼︎ Sturgeon Fish Soup with Pirog (鲟鱼汤配皮罗格馅饼) Clear soup with sturgeon is a Russian traditional dish; pirog is a popular Russian pie and in this case filled with meat rather than something sweet.
◼︎ Pomegranate Sorbet (石榴冰露) Frozen sorbet, generally made using lime and mint.
◼︎ Pechora Nelma Fish with Vegetables (伯朝拉河鲑鱼配蔬菜) Siberian white salmon from the Pechora River with vegetables.
◼︎ Venison served with Cherry Sauce
◼︎ Pavlova Dessert Dessert made of meringue, whipped cream, and berries.
◼︎ “East Slope” and “West Slope” wine Russian news agency TASS reported that two 2020 wines from Russia’s Divnomorskoye Estate winery were selected for the dinner.
On Weibo, the most popular comments were from those who said they wanted to see pictures of the dishes served.
Others wondered why vodka was not on the menu.
For more articles on China-Russian relations and related Weibo discussions, check our archives here.
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It was listed as one of the most popular topics on Weibo on Thursday, February 23: Chinese hotpot chain Haidilao bans customers from bringing their own food (#海底捞禁止自带菜#).
Starting from Feb. 21, 2023, the popular hotpot restaurant strictly enforces its policy of not allowing guests to bring outside food.
Previously, some Haidilao locations did allow customers to bring small amounts of their own food or ingredients, as long as they would sign a waiver. Haidilao stated that the recent ban on bringing in own food is in line with the restaurant’s food management and safety policies.
Haidilao has hundreds of restaurants across China, and people often line up to get a table. Dining at Haidilao is known to be an experience in itself, as the hospitality of Haidilao staff is widely praised; staff members are thoroughly trained to give customers the best possible service. Throughout the years, the chain has introduced many new concepts to enhance customer experience.
Haidilao is all about hotpot, where you put fresh ingredients in a big pot filled with simmering broth. The pot is placed in the middle of the table, accompanied by plates of various meats, vegetables, noodles, condiments, dipping sauces, etc. The ingredients are to be cooked in the broth – Haidilao offers many different options from spicy to mild -and then taken out and dipped into the chosen sauce before eating. Because of this dining style, it would be relatively easy for people to bring their own ingredients as they could just cook them at the table.
Although most commenters on Weibo think it is only reasonable for Haidilao to prohibit people from bringing in their own food, there are still many discussions about the topic. On Thursday night, the topic had over 260 million views on Weibo. By Friday, the hashtag had over 420 million clicks.
The most recurring comments are from those people who did not know that it was previously allowed to bring some of your own food. They wonder why people would do that in the first place. “If you go out for hotpot and bring your own food, why would you not just have hotpot at home?”
Haidilao’s ‘bring your own food’ option was reportedly introduced in 2017 as part of the restaurant’s ‘customer always comes first’ marketing concept, allowing people to bring an ingredient or dish they especially liked to the restaurant.
Some people say they appreciated the option. One commenter posted a photo showing how they brought their own seafood to Haidilao, writing: “Bringing your own food can be so delicious (..), we did it and we still ordered from the restaurant. They made us sign a waiver.”
Another Weibo user (@王铜根) wrote: “I’ve been going to Haidilao for many years and only this year did I bring my own food on two occasions. Once, I bought a very nice beef at the supermarket but I was afraid it was going to thaw on my way home and then I realized I could bring my own food to Haidilao and I went and ate it there. While I was eating it, I thought, Haidilao is so amazing, I vowed that I’d always support them.”
Over a year ago, Haidilao announced that it was closing about 300 of its restaurants which had been doing worse than expected.
Haidilao suffered because of Covid and local lockdowns. Due to the restaurant’s increased labor costs, its menu prices went up, much to the dismay of many netizens, who already thought the prices at Haidilao were steep before the pandemic. In October of 2021, the story of a Haidilao customer in Zhengzhou discovering that the 200 grams of tripe he ordered for 72rmb ($11) was actually only 138 grams also went viral on Weibo, stirring discussions on the Haidilao menu prices.
While Haidilao’s choice to ban its bring-your-own-food option could be a strategic business choice, it also could have other motives related to marketing and legal reasons. (Also read our story on this scammer pretending to find coackroaces in his hotpot to get money from Haidilao.)
Haidilao still allows customers to bring their own beverages to the restaurant.
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