Navigating the World of Chinese Hotpot Magic

by Nova Zhang

Background

Ancient Chinese Hot Pot

Ancient Chinese people had hotpots as early as the Shang Dynasty. At that time, people boiled foods and soups in bronze cauldrons. The cauldron had two parts - one was the pot to cook foods in soup, the other part was a layer or a space inside the cauldron to hold firewood.

During the Han Dynasty, people divided a pot into several parts to enjoy different flavors.

During the Tang Dynasty, having hotpot was popular. When people held family feasts, they would prepare hotpot.

And People of the Song Dynasty had hotpots to welcome winter.

The Ancient Chinese called the Hot Pot 古董羹 This is because there is a "gudong" sound when you put food into boiling water.

Nine-square grid

popular in the Sichuan and Chongqing regions and is mainly used for spicy base

Double-flavor

used to differentiate between spicy and non-spicy bases

Individual

suitable for round table dinners for larger groups or some dietary preferences that mind eating in the same pot

Spicy Broth

used to separate different ingredients for simmering, and interestingly, the boiling temperatures are different for each square

Map of Chinese Hot Pot Sectarianism

There are five main types of hot pot in modern China: Bei Pai, ChuanYu Pai, Yue Pai, YunGui Pai and JiangZhe Pai.

派- Pie

Bei Pai

Northern style, People in the north are passionate about shabu-shabu and the soup base is light, using sesame sauce for dipping, mainly eating fatty beef, lamb and pork. (Old Beijing Hot Pot / Sheep Scorpion Hot Pot / Inner Mongolia Fatty Sheep Hot Pot / Northeast Iron Pot Stewed Fish Hot Pot / Shandong Fatty Beef Hot Pot / Sheep Soup Hot Pot, etc.)

ChuanYu Pai Szechuan and Chongqing style, spicy and flavorful pots with beef oil or light oil, dipping sauces with garlic and sesame oil. (Szechuan Hot Pot / Skewer Hot Pot / Chongqing Hot Pot / Fish Head Hot Pot, etc.)

Yue Pai Cantonese style, the soup base is light and nourishing, ingredients include a variety of seafood and meatballs, Chaoshan beef hot pot and pork tripe&chicken hot pot are most famous. (Congee hotpot/seafood hotpot/douluo hotpot, etc).

YunGui Pai Yunnan and Guizhou style, the soup base is mainly mushroom soup and sour soup, the ingredients of fish are unique local characteristics. (Mushroom Hotpot/Sour Soup Fish Hotpot/La Pork Ribs Hotpot/Black Mountain Goat Hotpot, etc).

JiangZhe Pai Jiangsu and Zhejiang style, mostly light soup base, chrysanthemum hot pot is very unique and fragrant. (Sansho Hot Pot / Assorted Warm Pot / Side Stove / Hachisheng Hot Pot, etc.)

Coconut chicken hot pot is a culinary innovation that combines Hainanese specialty ingredients and hot pot elements. Coconut is usually used as the base of the pot with ingredients such as chicken to create a unique flavor. The sweetness of the coconut juice and the tenderness of the chicken blend with each other

Many modern Chinese hot pot restaurants include a show as part of the service to create a business model that sells both service and food. Haidilao is a well-known Chinese hotpot chain whose performance service business model is one of the keys to its globalization. Haidilao, the leading hot pot chain restaurant, recorded $313.89 million revenue during the first six months of 2023(Vivian 13). This business model combines the hotpot dining and entertainment experience to provide customers with a richer and more personalized dining experience. Haidilao provides customers with exciting entertainment at random times, such as dance performances, Peking Opera face-changing, magic and other popular or ethnic performances. Customers participate in an audio-visual feast while dining, enhancing the entertainment and fun of the meal. One of Haidilao's specialties is dancing noodles which staff will add to the interactive experience with customers as they stretch the noodles. Haidilao will provide personalized and customized services for birthday customers, including balloon decoration, birthday chorus and gift giving, etc., to create a warm birthday atmosphere and a sense of ceremony for the birthday person. This celebration service can increase the emotional connection between customers and the brand.

Air-raid shelter hot pot is a unique dining environment, originating from the air-raid shelter in Chinese history. During the war years, in order to protect people's lives and properties, many cities built air-raid shelters as a place of refuge. With the development of the times, some creative hotpot restaurants have repurposed these air-raid shelters into hotpot venues with unique local styles and historical features. Air-raid shelter hot pots are usually located underground, giving diners a sense of mystery and a novel dining experience. In terms of flavors, on top of the traditional spicy and clear soup base, hot pot restaurants have also introduced various flavors of innovative hot pots, such as cheese hot pot, tomato hot pot, curry hot pot, and snail lion powder hot pot, to satisfy consumers' pursuit of heavy flavors. This constantly innovative business philosophy keeps the Chinese hotpot culture active. The special ingredients of hot pot include some ingredients that are less common in traditional hot pots, which usually have a texture and flavor that is not accepted by everyone.

Air-raid shelter hot pot

The homogenization of hotpot dishes is serious, in which many hotpot restaurants have similar dishes and base materials, so the competitiveness of the stores has turned to personalized service. The semi-self-service business model has also dramatically increased the turnover of Chinese hot pot restaurants. Customers will want to eat something to relieve the spiciness after they have used spicy stimulating food, and this is the time to provide some sweet snacks or homemade cold drinks to relieve the spiciness. This kind of new product supplement will not conflict with the original product, but also can achieve the purpose of improving the customer unit price. Self-serve stations have become a common feature in modern Chinese hot pot restaurants, providing customers with a wide range of seasonings and side dishes that they can mix and match according to their personal taste preferences. These stations are usually placed to the side or in the center of the dining area for customers to access. The variety of buffet stations is constantly being innovated and upgraded to include a wide range of condiments, desserts, snacks, fruits and ice creams. Different ingredients take different amounts of time to cook, so many stores will thoughtfully prepare ingredient instruction cards for their customers.

Self-Heating Instant Hot Pot

In recent years self-heating hot pot as one of the hot pot related products quickly occupied the young people's consumer market, including a variety of large supermarket chains and retail stores. Self-Heating Instant Hot Pot is an innovative food product that combines convenience with practicality. This type of hot pot is equipped with built-in self-heating technology. Convenient and portable for a fast meal anywhere people want a hotpot. All it takes is cold water and a ten-minute wait time to enjoy the mixture of vermicelli and vegetables. The cooking of hot pot without external heating is realized, which contains disposable heating packages and vacuum-packed ingredients. Young people are the main consumer group of self-heating hot pot. With the accelerated pace of life, fast food and semi-finished products have become the daily purchasing choices of young people. Traditional instant noodle food lacks nutrition and has a single flavor, so the appearance of self-heating hot pot breaks the stereotype of instant food products. It provides a higher quality option for people who live a fast-paced life. Self-heating hot pot products emphasize convenience and disposability. The packaging is often made of recyclable materials and there is no need to wash the cooking utensils after consumption.

Hot pot is not a healthy eating option and excessive consumption can have negative effects on the body. Short-term, high-frequency consumption of hot pot can lead to overstressing of the small intestinal mucosa and indigestion of fats and oils. Triglycerides may rise with food intake and lead to accumulation of visceral fat. “Even the types that you thought would be healthier, such as tomato or mushroom soup contain a whopping 3,840mg and 5,723 mg respectively”(Pui Fun 2020). Lighter hot pot soup bases can also lead to health problems such as cardiovascular disease by accumulating increased salt and sodium levels as the ingredients are simmered. So even the lighter options in the pot base flavor still exceed the normal intake of the human body. A variety of high-calorie and high-fat ingredients can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and other chronic diseases. Although there are some potential health hazards associated with hot pot, enjoying hot pot in a reasonable amount, choosing fresh and balanced ingredients and controlling the serving size can help to minimize the risk. Customers should choose hotpot restaurants with good reputation and hygienic conditions to minimize food safety hazards.

Nowadays, hot pot is still a very popular Chinese food, and many different races of people like it very much. It has also become a "bridge" to maintain and communicate emotions between people. There's nothing that a hot pot meal can't fix! If so, two meals! Have a hot pot with your family or maybe a friend you haven't seen for a long time!

References

Agency101. “Hotpot Seasoning Market: Challenges, Opportunities, and Growth Drivers and Major Market Players Forecast for Period from 2023 - 2030.” LinkedIn, 21 Nov. 2023, www.linkedin.com/pulse/hotpot-seasoning-market-challenges-opportunities-growth-drivers-ywtxe.

Author links open overlay panelChia-Hsien Wu, and SummaryWe herein present the case of awoman who had esophageal thermal injury after having a spicy hot pot. The patient came to us with complaints of odynophagia. “Early Endoscopic Finding of Esophageal Thermal Injury after Having Spicy Hot Pot.” Advances in Digestive Medicine, No longer published by Elsevier, 2 Mar. 2015, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351979715000110.

Ayuzak. “Electric Hot Pot Market Size Reveals the Best Marketing Channels in Global Industry.” Medium, Medium, 14 Mar. 2024, medium.com/@ayuzak9/electric-hot-pot-market-size-reveals-the-best-marketing-channels-in-global-industry-714fab62dc3c.

Chu, JiaYin. “Chongqing Hechuan: Creating a Whole Industry Chain of Hotpot Ingredients.” Xinhua News Network, 6 Dec. 2023, www.news.cn/photo/2023-12/06/c_1130011107_3.htm.

Fun, Pui. “Experts: Hotpot Is Seriously Unhealthy & You Should Only Eat It Once a Month.” WORLD OF BUZZ, 22 Jan. 2020, worldofbuzz.com/experts-hotpot-is-seriously-unhealthy-you-should-only-eat-it-once-a-month/.

Little airplane. “With Revenues Exceeding $800 Billion, Where’s Next for the Hotpot Market?” Ingredients_Competition_Flavor, 1 Jan. 2024, www.sohu.com/a/747489806_120644317#google_vignette.

Teens. “Ancient Chinese Hot Pot.” Love for Hotpot(153711), 2021, paper.i21st.cn/story/153711.html.

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