China's chefs are doing a vanishing act

In recent years pre-made food has spread from the central kitchens of large restaurant chains to takeaway catering platforms and has gradually become highly popular among consumers.

This has been helped in no small measure by the stay-at-home economy, itself spurred by the pandemic and the gradual improvement of cold chain technology.

China's pre-made food industry was worth 253 billion yuan ($37.9 billion) in 2020, with compound annual growth of 28.8 percent from 2017 to 2020, says a report by ASKCI Consulting, an industry consulting professional organization in China.

The value of the market is forecast to reach 415.15 billion yuan this year, representing annual growth of 32.4 percent.

In such an environment there is little doubt the standing of chefs has greatly declined.

Pre-made food comes in three main forms. The first can be described as ready to cook, offering processed raw materials, such as washed and cut vegetables or salted meat that are needed for the dish. The second is pre-cooked food that is ready to heat, and the third is ready-to-eat food such as canned goods.

These three represent different levels of the disconnection between catering and the chef, from the chef losing control of seasoning, eliminating the chef to eliminating the kitchen entirely.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, pre-made food originated in the United States, where the world's first quick-freezing machine was invented and tested in 1920, followed by the introduction of quick-frozen processed products. By the 1950s frozen foods were becoming increasingly popular, and in the US various types of pre-made food became commercially available from the 1960s.

Pre-made food was initially supplied to the catering industry, enabling restaurants, companies that offered catering services and takeaway food industries to reduce labor, utility and waste disposal costs, as well as kitchen space and equipment purchases. Later, some pre-prepared food was retailed to consumers at large, making homecooking easier.

In the US, the shelf life of highly processed raw and clean vegetables is only three to four days, even when it is refrigerated. Frozen foods are highly popular, as are vegetables that are lightly processed, having had soil and roots removed.

With the development of the food service industry, pre-made food is well established, and it was in this environment that Sysco, a global mega ingredient distribution supply chain company whose headquarters are in Houston, Texas, was founded in 1969.

In the 1980s, preprepared dishes began to take off in Japan, Canada and some European countries. After first appearing in Japanese cities, the premade meal then became popular in Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

Japan's extremely high population density means that supermarkets and convenience stores are ubiquitous, and demand for processed food, including both frozen and refrigerated products, is high.

A report analyzing the development of the pre-made food industry by New Fortune, a Chinese financial services platform providing evaluation and research, says the pre-made food industry developed rapidly in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Japan, growing at more than 20 percent a year. The penetration rate of pre-made food in the country exceeds 60 percent, the report says.

In China, it has become increasingly uncommon for consumers, especially young people who are busy at work, to cook meals at home, time spent cooking becoming, an important cost factor for consumers to calculate.

Pre-made food was introduced to China in the 1980s, KFC entering the country in 1987 and McDonald's three years later. This spawned imitators such as Dicos and Wallace, and the country's food and beverage industry was transformed.

However, the influence of Western fast food entering China was not limited to fried chicken, burgers and milkshakes. It also profoundly changed many aspects of the Chinese catering industry such as product lines, branding, operations, the emergence of raw material processing and distribution plants－and the decline of the status of chefs.

About 2,000 deep-processed semifinished dishes emerged, raising the curtain for pre-made Chinese food. Over the years the industry grew in fits and starts, and it was not until the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 that the industry really came into its own as consumers grappled with trying circumstances such as lockdowns that forced the closure of restaurants and cafes or tight restrictions on the number of customers they could serve.

At present the pre-made food consumption market is concentrated in first- to third-tier cities, first-tier cities accounting for 45 percent, second-tier cities 20 percent and third-tier cities 16 percent.

In terms of regional distribution, East China accounted for the largest market share last year, 32 percent, followed by South China, North China, Southwest and Central China, all accounting for more than 10 percent.

With the rising popularity of premade food, more and more catering companies no longer need senior chefs, but only general cooks who can toss and heat dishes. And with the popularity of stir-fry machines, the necessity of having cooks in the kitchen is further reduced because it is cheaper to buy machines than to pay for labor.

This helps explain why hotpot restaurant chains have been such a roaring success throughout China.

"It makes me feel horrible just imagining that I might be replaced by some advanced machine someday, but maybe the nightmare is coming true," says Chen Yufan, 28, a chef who works in a restaurant serving Hunan cuisine in Beijing.

His workplace has been receiving processed raw materials since last year, he says, which saves cooks a lot of time. Some of his workmates were lost permanently to restaurants when they were shut in the early days of the pandemic, he says.

"Even though machines can be highly reliable, only human cooks can add feeling and passion to what they cook, just like seasoning, and I hope that will never be replaced."

Li Lecheng, 35, of Beijing, says he began to love pre-made food when the pandemic broke out, especially when his family's live-in helper was away.

Even when he visited friends he took several packs of pre-made Chinese food, believing it would save the host a lot of trouble in preparing dinner for visitors. Recently, Wen says, he bought some aluminum foil containers and started making pre-made food himself at home and distributing it to friends.

"It's very convenient to store some pre-made food at home, and it gives me a strong sense of security knowing that I can serve my family and friends a proper meal by a simply clicking on the button of the microwave," Li says.

Lin Han, 32, is obsessed with science and technology that makes life easier, such as the food cooking machine that he proudly shows friends when they visit him. Recently he has been buying sets of Japanese-style beef with rice from the supermarket.

"Pre-made food is one of the best solutions for someone who is single," he says. "I no longer have to spend half an hour waiting for takeaway to arrive, or one hour cooking and another hour cleaning up.

"Cooking at home or going out with someone is a luxury, because people are all so busy, but slowing down is what makes life good."

When you opt for pre-made food, you are opting for predictability, reliability and saving time and money, but in so doing you lose the element of surprise and personal flair that chefs can serve up, and which some regard as the very spice of life.