‘Disgusting’: pre-made Lunar New Year meals lose lustre for Chinese families

Disgusting: pre-made Lunar New Year meals lose lustre for Chinese families

As families across China gather for the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday, pre-made dishes at their reunion dinners – the centrepiece of Spring Festival celebrations – have again come under scrutiny. Chinese households, many of which tend to reduce their budget, have increasingly been cautious, following a high-profile row over food transparency and quality involving…

As families across China gather for the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday, pre-made dishes at their reunion dinners – the centrepiece of Spring Festival celebrations – have again come under scrutiny.
Chinese households, many of which tend to reduce their budget, have increasingly been cautious, following a high-profile row over food transparency and quality involving a star influencer with millions of fans online and a national restaurant chain.

“I work all year round overtime and do eat pre-made food quite often, but it always feels cheap and not refined,” said Ma Shuai, a sales manager from Henan, a province in central China.

However, “there isn’t a single pre-made dish I’d want to put on the reunion dinner table,” he added.

Similar to Christmas dinners in Western countries, the Chinese dinner on Lunar New Year’s Eve is often regarded as the most important meal of the year – and one where they would prefer to allocate more money.

Such comments are common in China as it has raised broader questions about trust, disclosure and regulation in China’s fast-growing prepared food industry.

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