What to eat for health on Spring's Beginning? As the first solar term of the 24 solar terms, do you know the traditional foods for Spring's Beginning? This season has its own special dishes, mainly spring pancakes, radishes, and five-spice platters. In southern regions, spring rolls are popular, with many vendors selling them in the markets. Below, we list the four major traditional foods for Spring's Beginning.
1. Spring Pancakes
The Tang dynasty text Four Seasons Mirror records: "On the first day of spring, people eat water chestnuts, spring pancakes, and raw vegetables, known as the 'vegetable platter.'" This shows that people in the Tang dynasty already enjoyed tasting spring dishes and eating spring pancakes.Spring pancakes, also known as lotus-leaf pancakes, are essentially thin steamed flatbreads. Made by layering two small pieces of dough with oil in between, they are rolled thin, steamed, and then split into two sheets. These pancakes are used to wrap both cooked and stir-fried vegetables.
The Qing dynasty text "Tiao Ding Ji" recorded the preparation method: "Roll out dough sheets, fill with ham, chicken, or seasonal vegetable hearts, then deep-fry for serving. Alternatively, grind salted pork belly, garlic flowers, black dates, walnut kernels, rock sugar, and white sugar into a paste; wrap in spring pancakes and slice into segments."This reflects Qing Dynasty eating customs. Modern spring pancakes still employ ancient methods of pan-frying or steaming, with sizes tailored to personal preference. When served, some enjoy spreading sweet bean paste and rolling in spring onions, while certain regions favor filling them with cooked meats like shredded pork belly or chicken.
2.Spring Platter
Also known as the "Five Pungent Vegetable Platter," this dish features finely chopped raw vegetables of five pungent varieties. The Compendium of Materia Medica states: "The Five Pungent Vegetables are consumed on New Year's Day and the Start of Spring—a mixture of scallions, garlic, leeks, smartweed, and mustard greens—to symbolize welcoming the new season." This custom persisted through the Tang, Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties.For instance, Yelü Chucai of the Yuan Dynasty composed the poem "Preparing the Spring Platter at the Post Station on the First Day of Spring," mentioning the use of lotus root, peas, scallions, loofah, yellow chives, and vermicelli noodles for the platter.
In the Ningjin area, scallions, garlic, peppers, ginger, and mustard greens are chopped and seasoned together, forming the Five Pungent Vegetables Platter. It serves both as an accompaniment to wine and meals, and as a gift exchanged between people.Some also exchanged gifts of green garlic and yellow tangerines. 3. Spring Rolls Beyond spring pancakes, spring rolls are another festive delicacy commonly enjoyed on the first day of spring. They evolved from the ancient custom of eating spring platters on this day. The Song Dynasty featured a transitional form called "rolled pancakes," bridging spring pancakes and spring rolls.The Yuan Dynasty's Complete Collection of Essential Household Matters already documented spring pancakes being rolled around fillings and deep-fried. By the Qing Dynasty, the term "spring rolls" had emerged. Spring rolls are made by wrapping fillings in thin, round pancakes, rolling them into long strips, then deep-frying until golden brown and floating. Fillings can be meat-based or vegetarian, savory or sweet.
4. Radish
According to Cui Shi's Han Dynasty text Four Classes Monthly Ordinances, China long held the culinary custom of "eating raw vegetables on the first day of spring... to welcome the new season." By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the practice known as "biting spring" primarily referred to eating radishes on the first day of spring. As recorded in Liu Ruoyu's Ming Dynasty work Notes on Moderate Living: A Brief Account of Food Preferences:On the following day of Spring's Beginning, all—rich or poor—chew radishes," a practice called "biting spring." Fucha Dunchong's Yanjing Suishi Ji from the Qing dynasty similarly notes: "Spring's Beginning marks the start of spring. On this day, wealthy families often eat spring pancakes, while women typically buy radishes to consume, calling it 'biting spring' to ward off spring fatigue."
Why radishes? The common belief is that they alleviate spring fatigue.After the start of spring, temperatures gradually rise, and human yang energy begins to ascend. Chinese people, who value dietary supplementation, select foods with pungent and sweet dispersing properties at this time to help the body align with the seasonal changes. Su Dongpo wrote in a poem: "The radish root still holds the morning dew; When autumn frosts and snows fill the eastern garden, The radish bears offspring, and the mustard has grandchildren."Li Shizhen praised radishes even more highly, noting that "both root and leaves can be eaten raw or cooked, made into sauces, fermented with soybeans, pickled in vinegar, sweetened, preserved, or cooked into rice dishes—truly the most beneficial of all vegetables." Radishes also hold medicinal value for clearing phlegm, promoting respiration, and relieving coughs. This may well be the original intent behind the ancient custom of eating radishes at the start of spring.
Today, the customs of eating spring pancakes and spring platters are rarely seen. Instead, people typically eat dumplings and noodles, known as "welcoming spring dumplings and spring noodles." The day of the Spring Equinox also carries many other traditions. In northern and western Shandong, mothers sew small toys like "spring roosters" and "spring babies" from colorful scraps of fabric to give to children as holiday gifts.In Tengzhou, Huimin, and other areas, for children who hadn't received smallpox vaccinations, the spring rooster's beak would hold a string of soybeans—one bean for each year of age. This symbolized the rooster eating away diseases like smallpox and measles.