Top Culinary Delights from the Yangtze River Delta Gather in Yinzhou

On January 7, a vibrant "Opening Act of the New Year" – the Fourth "1.7" Zhejiang Food Day and the 2026 New Year Culinary Tourism and Consumption Season – kicked off with great fanfare at Water Street in the Southern Business District. The event gathered nearly a hundred food stalls from across the Yangtze River Delta, simultaneously launching Zhejiang's New Year culinary tourism and consumption festivities.

This taste extravaganza, centered on Yinzhou, is not only the opening highlight of Zhejiang's New Year consumption season but also marks the full launch of a deeply integrated public benefit initiative combining "food, culture, tourism, and consumption," led by Yinzhou and covering the whole of Ningbo. From heartwarming reunion banquets to creative snacks trending online, and from experiential intangible cultural heritage activities, Yinzhou leverages its core capacity and innovative drive to launch a flavorful New Year consumption season for the entire province.

The reunion banquet is the warmest consumption scene of the Spring Festival. Over 50 star-rated hotels and quality restaurants in Ningbo have collectively launched the "Happy 'Gallop' into the New Year" series, offering distinctive New Year's Eve dinners and New Year accommodation and dining packages across various price points. Yinzhou-based establishments such as Shangri-La, Huamao Hilton, Nanyuan Global, and New Century Kaiyuan have introduced "Reunion Banquet + Hotel Room" combo products, providing citizens with diverse options and stimulating linked consumption between dining and accommodation through incentives like "Early Booking Rewards."

At the bustling food market, Sebastian Kovacs, spokesperson for the Wiener Neustadt government in Austria, was deeply captivated by the "Yinxian Old Three Delicacies" from Shangri-La Hotel. After savoring a warm bowl of this winter specialty, he couldn't stop praising it as "delicious."

Many guests and visitors strolled along the stalls, sampling various regional specialties. "I will carefully document today's experience and convey my genuine feelings to the Austrian people. It was incredibly tasty, with many flavors I will remember for a lifetime," Sebastian Kovacs remarked with emotion.

At the market, Yinzhou's highly internet-savvy "Yinzhou Warm Winter Trio" became a hit among young visitors. This trio, infused with Yinzhou's local character, includes: a classic hotpot from the "Top Ten Warm Pots of Zhejiang," a handcrafted "Dragon and Phoenix Golden Dumpling" made by the fifth-generation inheritor of "Zhao Dayou," and a creative "Rising Rice Cake" latte with rice cake flavor. The cozy warmth of the traditional hotpot, the auspicious symbolism of the intangible cultural heritage golden dumpling, and the trendy fusion with Western-style coffee cleverly combine taste, culture, and social appeal, quickly sparking a social media check-in frenzy among young people.

In the "ENJOY Yinzhou" New Year Experience Zone, immersive traditional customs became another highlight. Yinzhou's cultural tourism sector recreated scenes of Ningbo's intangible cultural heritage "Treading Salted Vegetables" and traditional rice cake pounding, inviting citizens to participate firsthand. The "hardcore" pickling technique of treading the salt jar and the aroma of rice wafting during the pounding made the deep-seated New Year flavors tangible and experiential, evoking childhood memories for many.

Tiamo Bistro sparked innovation by combining Yinzhou's "rice-enhancing" salted vegetables with Italian pizza to create a "Salted Vegetable Pizza," attracting many curious diners to try this fusion. From the "trodden" old flavors to the "baked" new interpretations, Yinzhou's intangible cultural heritage has entered the public eye with vibrancy, showcasing the robust vitality of culinary inheritance and innovation.

The lively start at the Food Day event is just the beginning. During the 2026 New Year period, various districts and counties in Ningbo have scheduled a series of rich and diverse culinary and cultural tourism activities, forming a consumption relay.

Events such as the "New Year Lantern Festival · Dazzling Chinese New Year" themed market, Dongqian Lake's "Drama and Market at Qianhu," Ningbo Museum's "Forbidden Lotus Charm" cultural, creative, and intangible heritage food market will be staged one after another. Distinctive activities like Zhenhai Botanical Garden's "Intangible Heritage New Year Celebration," Beilun Baifeng's "Rice Cake Cultural Tourism Market," Xiangshan Film and Television City's "Film and TV Temple Fair," and Ninghai's "New Year Goods and Food Exhibition" will also take turns, creating a citywide, festive, and bustling atmosphere.

In terms of consumption promotion measures, Ningbo has integrated resources from the government, platforms, and enterprises. In addition to hotel-specific discounts, dining vouchers will be distributed through platforms like UnionPay, and food guides such as the "Hundred Counties, Thousand Bowls" culinary list will be released in collaboration with platforms like Dianping and Gaode Map, providing citizens and visitors with "flavor guides" and payment discounts to achieve a seamless online-offline consumption loop.

The event also attracted cultural and tourism delegations from Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui, and other Yangtze River Delta regions. Food stalls from various places gathered at Nanshang Water Street, allowing citizens and visitors to savor regional specialties all in one place.