Foreigners also love Zibo barbecue

This article introduces the article from the third-person perspective of Ajie visiting Zibo barbecue. Zibo barbecue has been very popular recently, but what we don’t know is that the popularity of barbecue has spread abroad a long time ago. The article tells the history of the spread of barbecue through various scientific data and professional historical materials. Students who are interested in this topic are welcome to read it together.

At 7pm on April 15, Ajie went to Zibo to find barbecue. He asked several shops on the same street, but the owners told him not to queue up. Some even said, "Those who queued up since 2pm haven't gotten a seat yet." He told Xiaguang Society that he walked two streets and searched for more than an hour before he finally found a shop that would take him in.

In the past month, the popularity of "going to Zibo to catch up on the barbecue" has been beyond imagination. On April 26, the Zibo Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism issued an open letter, pointing out that hotels in the central city have been basically sold out during the "May Day" holiday, and the passenger flow has exceeded the reception capacity, and it is recommended that tourists travel during off-peak hours.

According to statistics, the number of tourists in Zibo during the May Day holiday is expected to exceed 120,000. Data released by the Zibo Railway Department show that since March, the number of passengers arriving and departing from Zibo Station has shown a clear upward trend, with an average of 40,000 passengers arriving and departing per day. On April 15 and 16, the three railway stations in Zibo City had a total of more than 220,000 passengers arriving and departing.

Data from the Zibo Municipal Bureau of Commerce showed that since March, the city's 1,288 barbecue businesses have received an average of 135,800 visitors per day, and the turnover of the key barbecue restaurant in Zhangdian in the main urban area has increased by about 35% year-on-year.

Zibo barbecue, source: Weibo @跑吧阿常

"Come to Zibo to enjoy the barbecue", in addition to tourists from all over the country, there are also foreigners coming from afar.

1. Foreigners also love Zibo barbecue

On April 13, a video of Peter Vesterbacka, the founder of the "Angry Birds" game, eating barbecue in Zibo went viral. On the high-speed train to Zibo, he practiced the "skewers" action. After arriving at the Zibo food stall, he ate skewers, wrapped onions, and rolled pancakes on the spot, praising them as "delicious."

On April 25, Erik Solheim, former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and co-chair of the Belt and Road International Institute for Green Development, tweeted that he took China's high-speed rail to Zibo.

On April 28, Solheim posted a "tourist photo" of himself eating barbecue in Zibo, and wrote, "Zibo is China's 'barbecue capital', and young Chinese people are flocking here. I really enjoyed my trip to Zibo."

Screenshot of Erik Solheim's tweet

Coincidentally, on April 24, Xiaohongshu blogger @葛心阿姨 also released a video. She and her British boyfriend flew back to Qingdao from London. They arrived in Zibo at midnight and had barbecue as their first meal.

It is not news that foreigners like Chinese barbecue. Last August, German UP @Hey_Tobi posted a vlog about how he brought Chinese imported barbecue equipment to a park in Berlin, made Northeastern pickled cabbage barbecue on the spot, and invited passers-by to eat. Everyone found it very delicious and said they wanted to come back for a second time.

As a result, the police were called because of the bustle, and considering the fire hazard, his barbecue stall had to close. In the end, this video received more than 5.6 million views on Bilibili.

Tobi makes Chinese barbecue in a German park

Barbecue culture is popular in China and has also formed a huge industrial scale.

The "China Barbecue Category Development Report 2023" recently released by the Red Restaurant Brand Research Institute pointed out that the market size of the barbecue category exceeded 220 billion yuan in 2022.

Zhang Li, chairman of Lisike, a leading company in the domestic barbecue supply chain, told Xiaguangshe that there are eight major factions of barbecue in China, and Shandong is the second hometown of barbecue. "Zibo barbecue is popular, and the enthusiasm for (eating barbecue) is also very high across the country. This is not just barbecue, but also a cultural phenomenon, using a kind of food to create a city's business card. Zibo barbecue has played a role in promoting and catalyzing the upward development of the entire barbecue industry."

Recently, Lisike also sent a team to Zibo for inspection, preparing to reach some cooperation. According to Hongcan Big Data, as of April 2023, there are about 474,000 barbecue stores nationwide, of which 287,000 and 172,000 are kebab and barbecue stores, respectively, and the number of hot pot stores has reached 444,000.

Zhang Li found that after Zibo barbecue became popular, more and more people wanted to open barbecue restaurants. He believes that many big barbecue brands will be born, and in the near future, there will be millions of barbecue restaurants in China. "From a macro perspective, barbecue is the earliest cooking method of mankind." Zhang Li, who has been deeply involved in the barbecue industry for 18 years, believes that barbecue is a cultural phenomenon of mankind and the cultural matrix of mankind.

According to archaeological information, the bronze furnace plate unearthed from the Zenghouyi Tomb of the Warring States Period in Suizhou, Hubei Province in 1978 is more than 2,400 years old and is considered to be one of the earliest bronze utensils for frying and roasting food in China. The frying and roasting utensils unearthed from the Nanyue King's Tomb in Guangzhou include a copper roasting furnace and a copper frying furnace, which are more than 2,200 years old.

Back to the present, at the end of the last century, barbecue gradually became a popular delicacy throughout the country because of the popularity of Xinjiang Uyghur grilled lamb skewers. In fact, in addition to the recently popular Zibo barbecue, there are many other places in China that are also very famous for barbecue, such as Xuzhou, Jiangsu, Jinzhou, Liaoning, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Leshan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, etc.

2. BBQ culture is booming around the world

Barbecue, grilling, and BBQ are also very popular abroad. Especially during the epidemic, barbecue at home and outdoors have become a must-have activity for people. The ancient Greek poet Homer mentioned food similar to "kebabs" in the first volume of the epic "Iliad". The word kebab, which means "kebab" in English, originated from the Akkadian word kabābu in the Mesopotamian region, which originally meant "barbecue".

American barbecue culture has a strong Native American heritage influence, said food historian Adrian Miller, author of Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue.

In the 18th century, British colonists in Virginia forced African slaves to cook for them, and gradually African Americans became masters of barbecue.

Image source: Amazon Books

Miller points out that barbecue styles vary from place to place: North and South Carolina like to roast whole hogs on outdoor grills; East Texas must have the "Texas trinity" (chicken breast, sausage and pork chops); in Chicago, it's grilled pork chop tips (pork chops cut into bite-sized pieces) or grilled chicken.

Zhang Li often pays attention to and explores foreign barbecue culture. Barbecue at home and abroad is similar, mainly in different forms of barbecue and different ingredients. In addition to Chinese barbecue, Korean barbecue, Japanese barbecue, Turkish barbecue, and Brazilian barbecue are all well-known. Just like Zibo barbecue skewers with green onions, small cakes and other ingredients, foreign barbecue also has its own way of eating.

Brazilians like to sprinkle a little salt on the grilled beef, and the essence is the original flavor; Australia will serve grilled salmon and shrimp with garlic sauce, and may also pair it with Australian steak; Hawaiian barbecue mainly uses beef ribs and chicken, and pineapple is used as a side dish.

According to a report released by market research firm UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI), the compound annual growth rate of the global residential cooking barbecue market is expected to be about 4% from 2022 to 2028. At the beginning of 2022, data from market information company NPD Group showed that portable grills, gas grill pans and outdoor kitchenware in the US market recovered in 2021 compared with before the epidemic, with total sales exceeding 6 million units. Nearly 13 million grill accessories were sold in the second half of 2021 alone, an increase of 4% over the same period in 2020.

The data also pointed out that American consumers have purchased more than 21 million grills and outdoor stoves from July 2020 to 2021. NPD Group announced that the outdoor grilling market, including accessories, fuel and stoves, generated $6.1 billion in retail sales in the United States in 2021, an increase of 14% over the previous year.

“Grilling has become increasingly popular and important during the pandemic, facilitating safe outdoor socializing for some and providing others with a new way to spend free time or build culinary skills,” said Perry James, president of home improvement at NPD.

According to the HPBA (Heat, Patio and Barbecue Association), almost two-thirds (64%) of American adults own a grill or smoker, and more than seven in ten (72%) Canadian adults own one.

According to a report released by consulting firm Mordor Intelligence, sales of electric grills in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to grow with growing demand in the food sector, which generated $3.755 trillion in 2020 and is expected to exceed $5.5 trillion by 2027.

Image source: Mordor Intelligence

In mid-April, Jungle Scout, an e-commerce data platform, published an article stating that in the past 30 days, one of the 16 best-selling products on Amazon was the BBQ Grill Tools Set, whose revenue increased by 669%, and the search volume for "barbecue accessories" on Amazon increased by 234%. "The aroma of fat and the 'Maillard reaction' after the fire burns are irresistible to humans."

Zhang Li said, "Barbecue exists in every country, region and nation in the world, but the forms of expression are different."

3. China's barbecue industry goes overseas

When it comes to the overseas expansion of China's barbecue industry, the overseas expansion of barbecue utensils such as electric grills and small household appliances has already formed a scale. As we all know, China is the "world factory". Since the end of the last century, household appliance brands in Europe and the United States have transferred their production bases abroad. With the advantages of cost, scale and technical support, China has taken over major global household appliance orders, and OEM factories have rapidly risen in China. Subsequently, large domestic household appliances such as Haier, Midea, and Hisense have been exported, and household appliance brands have gradually become the mainstream.

According to the "2023-2029 Global and Chinese Electric Barbecue Pan Market Status and Future Development Trends" published by consulting firm QYResearch, China has become the world's largest exporter of electric barbecue pans with a series of advantages such as a complete upstream and downstream industrial chain, abundant labor supply, and continuous technological breakthroughs. The report pointed out that China is currently the main producer of electric barbecue pans in the world. In 2021, China is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of electric barbecue pans, accounting for about 79.54% of the production of electric barbecue pans.

China is also one of the markets with the highest consumption of electric barbecue pans in the world. In the next few years, the electric barbecue pan market is expected to grow rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region. "The major global electric barbecue pan manufacturers include Weber, Supor, Futengbao, Midea, Panasonic, Delonghi, Konka, Tefal, Joyoung, Bear Electric, German Pool, Daewoo, Aux and Liren.

In 2021, Weber was the world's largest electric barbecue pan manufacturer, with a turnover of US$37.97 million, accounting for 24.34% of the global electric barbecue pan market. The second largest manufacturer was Supor, whose electric barbecue pan turnover reached US$20.11 million in 2021, accounting for about 12.89% of the global electric barbecue pan market.

The above report pointed out that Chinese barbecue restaurants are also flourishing abroad. Before the epidemic, through the accumulation and practice of domestic barbecue restaurants, Zhang Li also opened three Northeast barbecue restaurants in Spain and Australia. He found that foreigners have a special liking for two kinds of Chinese food, the first is hot pot, and the second is barbecue. Zhang Li introduced that he opened a barbecue training academy, and one of his students has now opened five barbecue restaurants in Singapore, and each store is doing very well.

"In Singapore, we have seen a lot of recognition and we also see the future of (Chinese barbecue) in the world." He found that many of his partners are seeking to open stores in Singapore and other cities in other countries. "Chinese catering is global," he exclaimed.

Data shows that as of 2021, Chinese food has spread to 130 countries around the world, with more than 600,000 Chinese restaurants overseas.

In recent years, hot pot has become the fastest growing category of Chinese food exported overseas, and has been widely deployed around the world. In 2003, Xiaofei Yang opened its first overseas store in Los Angeles, USA, and by 2021, it had 100 stores overseas. Haidilao entered overseas markets as early as 2012, and by the end of June 2022, it had opened 125 stores outside mainland China. As of September 2022, Xiaolongkan has opened stores in Japan, Germany, the United States, and Cambodia, expanding its overseas store footprint to 40. "The most popular Chinese food abroad is hot pot, followed by barbecue.

Now, barbecue is competing and iterating in China, and will continue to develop upward, and in the future it will reach international heights that everyone recognizes. "Zhang Li told Xiaguang Society.

(Ajie is a pseudonym in this article)

Author: Yinting Hou

Source: WeChat public account: "Xiaguangshe (ID: Globalinsights)"