Light food characterized by less oil, salt and sugar and high dietary fiber is overturning the traditional impression of the Northeast diet and becoming a new habit of more and more Shenyang people. At present, the number of light food restaurants in Shenyang has exceeded 400, and the number of light food takeaway orders has increased by more than 10 times annually.

Experts from the Shenyang Culinary and Catering Association said that residents' dining habits had changed from eating enough and eating well to eating healthily. Light food has become a consumption trend, which is an important reflection of the continuous upgrade of food consumption of Shenyang's citizens.

A new eating track from "eating grass"

A vegetable base with dragon fruit, roasted carrots, steamed purple sweet potatoes, chicken breast, poached broccoli, cucumber slices and a choice of Japanese vinaigrette for the sauce, almost every weekday, Ms. Shan, a citizen who works near Shifu Square, buys a light meal for lunch for CNY 18. She told the reporter that there are more and more colleagues around her who eat light meals for lunch and dinner, and they tease each other with "eating grass".

"Light food is defined in the 'Light Food Restaurant Development Guide' recently released by the China Cuisine Association." According to Ma Jie, Secretary General of the Shenyang Culinary and Catering Association, light food is characterized by less oil, salt and sugar and higher dietary fibre. In the food composition, the staple food often has the coarse grain and the grain and potatoes, the coarse grain matches the fine grain. Vegetables and fruits are abundant, including milk, beans, nuts and eggs. Animal food is mainly poultry and aquatic products, with a mix of meat and vegetables. The cooking method is simple, often using mixing, steaming, boiling, blanching, stewing and other methods.

With the active crowd of "eating grass" in Shenyang, light food catering is quietly popular in Shenyang. The data on the local life platform shows that the number of light food restaurants in Shenyang reached 472, with simple meals such as vegetable salads being the main ones. In Shenyang's light food restaurants, both traditional catering, foreign fast food and Internet companies to join this track, there are emerging startups optimistic about the market development prospects.

The light food market still has more room for imagination

Wang Yuxin, who was born after 1995, opened a light food restaurant in Shenyang with his girlfriend in August. Speaking of the original intention of opening this restaurant, Wang Yuxin said that because he weighed 130 kg, in order to take good wedding photos, his girlfriend made light food for him in all different way, and he lost 10 kg in two months. "At that time, I thought, there are a lot of people who want to eat healthier like me, and this market must have a future," Wang Yuxin said. After the opening of the light food restaurant, the small business is doing well.

It's the middle of winter and many people are having trouble resisting the temptation of high-calorie foods. But light food still sells well. On December 28, an official in ele. me's catering category said that in winter, the platform encourages light food vendors to offer warm and light food and provides traffic support. Orders from some local vendors have increased by more than 60 percent.

Light food is still a blue ocean market, the overall demand is still greater than the supply. Ma Jie said that in order to prevent a variety of chronic diseases caused by obesity, as well as the change of consumer diet concept, citizens' catering consumption has entered the stage of pursuing nutrition and health, the catering market has simultaneously entered the era of segmentation, the light food market still has a large room for imagination.

Reporter Liu Yang