Diners not souring anytime soon on trendy soup hot pot

With consumption upgrades, consumers' increasingly diversified tastes and pursuit of healthier diets, eating sour soup hot pot has become the new "it" dish among Chinese hot pot lovers.

It's noon on Saturday inside the New World Department Store in Dongcheng district, Beijing, with people lining up outside a hot pot restaurant, waiting to try out the new arrival for summer dining — sour soup hot pot.

"My friend and I are here to try out the Leishan fish sauce sour soup hot pot, which is a traditional dish of Southwest China's Guizhou province. Entering summer, with the hot weather, sometimes I feel like eating something sour to stimulate my appetite. We plan to order the fish sauce sour hot pot, thin-cut beef, black fish fillets, butterfly shrimp, sweet bamboo shoots as well as pomelo ice drinks," said Wang Yang, a hot pot fan waiting in line.

This summer, hot pot chain Haidilao introduced Leishan "fish sauce sour" soup hot pot — a traditional dish from Leishan county of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Guizhou.

"The birthplace of sour soup is the autonomous prefecture, where the locals have a long history of enjoying sour food. Year by year, sour soup has transformed into various flavors, including rice sour soup, red sour soup, bean sour soup and fish sauce sour soup. Fish sauce sour soup is one of the chief culinary representatives of local intangible heritage skills. Therefore, we decided to introduce fish sauce sour soup hot pot to our menu," said a Haidilao spokesperson.

Enjoying sour soup has become a new trend among Chinese consumers. As of July 9, there were more than 450 million views on videos related to sour soup hot pot on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. On lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu, there were nearly 150,000 related notes.

The 2024 Chinese hot pot report, issued by industry research institute Huoguocanjian, showed that among consumers' favorite hot pot options, sour soup ranked second, just behind beef tallow soup. According to business data provider Qichacha, by the end of 2023, the number of sour soup hot pot-related enterprises surged by 48.3 percent in just six months.

Apart from fish sauce sour soup hot pot, other sour soup hot pots — such as vinegar soup hot pot hailing from Puqian town in Wenchang, Hainan province — are also popular among hot pot aficionados.

Wang Peng, associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said: "With consumers' tastes becoming increasingly diversified, traditional hot pot bases such as spicy soup and light soup no longer meet shifting demands. Sour soup, as a base with a unique taste, is better at gustatory stimulation. In addition, sour food conforms to modern people's pursuit of a healthy diet, as it is rich in vitamin C and beneficial bacteria, which help with digestion and immunity enhancement."

Haidilao's innovative attempt is also in line with the country's rural vitalization efforts. Leishan county boasts rich mountain forestry resources, but inadequate arable land and limited industrial space.

With the help of Haidilao, local enterprises' manufacturing process has been modernized, and household incomes have been rising significantly. Currently, there are several companies in the area producing fish sauce sour. Taking Guizhou Leishan Fish Sauce Sour Technology Development Co Ltd as an example, the company manufactures 1,000 metric tons of such fish sauce sour per year, creating an output value of 30 million yuan ($4.1 million).

In addition, the introduction of fish sauce sour soup hot pot to Haidilao's outlets nationwide attracts tens of thousands of tourists to visit Leishan, boosting the local tourism sector, said Guo Changbiao, head of the Leishan agriculture and rural affairs bureau.

On Jan 1, the State Council issued notice on comprehensively promoting rural vitalization nationwide. The notice noted that enterprises should play a leading role in supporting various industries in rural regions, as well as raising household incomes.

Speaking of future consumption trends, Yuan Shuai, executive vice-president of the rural revitalization committee under the China City Development Academy, said that over the short term, the frenzy of eating sour soup is expected to maintain a strong momentum. However, for long-term development, catering enterprises are urged to constantly churn out innovative and differentiated sour dishes to meet consumers' evolving palates.

Online-to-offline marketing strategies and a more nuanced combination of culture and food are also necessary, Yuan said.