SHANGHAI restaurants have been ordered to seek permission from sanitation inspectors if they plan to serve nianye fan (New Year's Eve dinner) to large family gatherings or to groups occupying more than five tables during the Spring Festival.

This is a new regulation issued by the Shanghai Health Bureau to ensure that food is clean and healthy. The ingredients and the amount put into dishes on the menu will be analyzed by bureau inspectors.

Nianye fan is the most important family reunion meal for Chinese people and used to be served only at home. In recent years, an increasing number of local families prefer to enjoy their nianye fan in restaurants and the city's more popular eating spots have been fully booked out for the occasion.

Between 3 and 4 million people are expected to take their nianye fan in restaurants or hotels next week, according to the Shanghai Municipal Commercial Committee.

Zhuo Yongsheng, a local Shanghainese living in Putuo District, has booked two tables in a mid-range restaurant serving Shanghai food for his big family get-together.

"We decided to celebrate the Spring Festival in the restaurant. It will require too much time and energy to prepare the nianye fan at home. We will have a comfortable nianye fan in the restaurant which will save us a lot of work."

Once-a-year feast

The change in dining habits is due to improvements in the living standards of Shanghai residents because of the city's remarkable growth. People can now afford a banquet in a restaurant and what was once considered a luxury has become quite common.

In the past, the Spring Festival was looked forward to because it promised a good feast for both rich and poor families. Today, people focus more on the festival atmosphere of the holiday.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, local people did not always have enough food to eat because of low productivity and a shortage of food.

"It was only among the days around Spring Festival that every household could be supplied with extra food rations, usually double," recalled a grandmother surnamed Wu who had brought up two children. She said she had gone through some hard times when food was in short supply in Shanghai.

"At that time in Shanghai, the girls of each family would get up early in the morning, at 3 or 4 o'clock, and go to the food market in groups of threes and fours to buy vegetables and other food," she said.

"By queuing up for two hours or more, they could buy some vegetables, nuts and meat. The amount of food available was limited and there was not much variety."

Even though it was a difficult time, people still tried to make the most of the meal. The most common dishes in Shanghai at that time would have included soy buds, meat balls, cabbage, chicken, Kow-Fu and glutinous rice dumplings.

Because more food was probably consumed during the New Year celebrations than at any other time of the year, people, especially the children looked forward to the Spring Festival. They longed for a great feast with plenty of meat and fish.

In recent years, meat and fish have become ordinary items on the menu for most local families and the menu for the nianye fan has also undergone a great change.

Most restaurants have had to change their cooking methods to cater for the more health-oriented customers of today. Chicken, duck, fish and meat are now prepared more carefully to reduce the fat content.

"Our customers prefer dishes prepared with nutritious ingredients. The serving of vegetables is increasing making them an important part in the menu of the nianye fan," said the manager of Shanghai Ren Jia Restaurant Hongkou Branch.

Diners may order meals ranging in price from 300 yuan (US$36) to 12,000 yuan (US$1,451), depending on the restaurant.

Hua Dongfan, a professor of Culture and Linguistics of Shanghai International Studies University said: "The menu change for the nianye fan reveals a change of people's concept of eating as their incomes increase."

Western-flavour dinner

Another change is the range of choice in the restaurants and hotels serving nianye fan. Besides the well-known restaurants such as Mei Lin Ge and Shanghai Ren Jia, people can now choose different types of restaurants to enjoy their festival feast.

Red House, a well-known restaurant serving Western food, have been cooking nianye fan for six years. They have two set menus and are fully booked out for the Spring Festival. Li Min, the manager of the Huaihai Branch of Red House said that most customers are DINKs (double income, no kids) or old couples who have lived abroad for a long time.

Japanese restaurants such as Haizhixing are also gearing up to prepare nianye fan. Diners are mainly those who have worked or studied in Japan.

French and Italian restaurants are also decorated to welcome the Lunar New Year and are providing live entertainment to attract customers.

"The local people have become more open," said Hua. "They want their own life values to be respected. They prefer to lead their lives as they want to, based on their personality and preferences.

"And the changes also show the new role of women in Shanghai families. Most of them are career women and they don't see cooking as such an important part of family life."