When Leng Jingyi was a small girl, she had to wait for the annual Chinese Spring Festival to indulge in her favourite dishes.

    It was the one time of the year when the Shanghai-native got to eat dumplings filled with pork and crab, “eight-treasure” duck or river shrimps in vinegar.

    But the huge shift in the country's eating habits over the past two decades has turned the special into the routine. “We can now eat meat, fish or shrimp every day, if we want to,” explains the 25-year-old translator. “We do not need to wait for New Year any more.”

    Even in the late 1980s, many Chinese still relied on rationing cards for some essential foods and would store up special items for Chinese New Year. Now many are able to fill their newly bought fridges with ever-larger portions of protein that were either too expensive or too scarce in the past.
As incomes have risen, imported foods and habits have also started to influence Chinese life. Residents of big cities can buy foreign goods at Carrefour and Wal-Mart, and Shanghai is about to get its first Marks & Spencer.

    Leng likes to meet up with her friends for coffee at Starbucks, drinks Coca-Cola with her meals and treats herself to cakes and pastries every now and again – something that before was reserved only for birthdays. Many Chinese of her generation are now taking baking lessons, she says, so that they can make their children cookies, brownies and muffins. She does not have an oven at home, but says proudly: “My fiancee and I plan to buy an apartment equipped with an oven.” Dairy goods – especially milk and yogurt – are also quickly becoming popular, although from a low base.

    With basic needs satisfied, Leng and her family now look overseas to spice up the Spring Festival feast. This year she helped out by making an Italian pasta dish. “It is actually very simple to prepare,” she says, “and it allowed my parents to experience something exotic and unusual.”

    當冷靜宜（音譯）還是個小女孩的時候，每年她都要等到過春節才能盡情享用她最喜歡的菜肴。

    每年也只有這個時節，上海人才能吃上豬肉和蟹肉餡的餃子、“八寶鴨”或是醋浸河蝦。

    但在過去二十年間，中國的飲食傳統發生了巨大變化，往日的珍饈佳肴已變成了家常便飯。這位25歲的翻譯說：“只要我們想吃，現在天天都能吃上肉、魚或是蝦，不用非得等到過年。”

    即使在上世紀80年代末期，許多中國人還需要憑配給證才能買到一些必需的食品，并儲藏一些平時不常見的食品，留到過年再吃。到了現在，許多人都可以把新買的冰箱里塞得滿滿當當。這些食品中的蛋白質比重越來越大，而在以前，它們要么特別昂貴，要么特別稀缺。

    隨著收入的增長，進口食品和舶來風俗也開始對中國人的生活產生影響。大城市的居民們能到家樂福(Carrefour)和沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart)去購買外國食品，而上海的第一家馬莎百貨(Marks & Spencer)也將開業。

    冷靜宜喜歡和朋友們去星巴克喝喝咖啡。她吃飯時愛喝點可口可樂，還會時不時地來些蛋糕和西點，而以前只有在過生日的時候才會吃這些東西。她說，許多中國的同齡人在上糕點制作課，這樣就可以給自己家孩子做餅干、核仁巧克力餅和松餅了。冷靜宜的家里沒有烤箱，不過她自豪地說：“我未婚夫和我準備買一間配有烤箱的公寓。” 盡管基數較低，但奶制品（特別是牛奶和酸奶）的普級程度正在提高。

    在基本需求得到滿足的情況下，冷靜宜和她的家人現在想在春節大餐中添加一些洋食品來調劑口味。今年她幫忙做了一份意大利面。她說：“這個東西其實準備起來非常簡單，而且還能讓我父母體驗一下不一樣的異國風味。”