When she talks about the recipes that appeal to her thousands of followers, food influencer Ren Yunli explains that, because her fan base covers the whole of China, she goes for broad appeal – even when she’s introducing a new ingredient.
Interview with Ren Yunli
Food influencer"Recipes that resonate most are linked to traditional Chinese culture, seasons and festivals."
Food influencer
‘I don’t focus on one territory or geographic area. My recipes are universal, though I will sometimes infuse one kind of Chinese cuisine into the creation phase,’ she says.
Ren also explains that, since Chinese people have ‘a very high acceptance of different foods,’ a recipe will resonate ‘as long as the methodology or the sauce is recognisable. Then, Chinese people will see it as Chinese cuisine.’
Ren’s style as a food influencer grew from a 15-year career in print, working for China’s first monthly, food-focused magazine – a Chinese version of Betty’s Kitchen.
But with the country’s traditional media facing the same shifts to digital seen elsewhere over the last decade or so, she made the move from the magazine world to video platforms like Weibo, WeChat and RedNote. She now has accounts across more than 10 social media platforms in China, with thousands of followers looking to her for food inspiration.
‘Creative ideas for these meals need to be direct and simple, with themes for good luck and fortune,’ she explains.
‘People usually use yellow fish for rice cakes – a recipe for great fortune in the New Year. So, I developed a recipe for this using Norwegian mackerel, for example. With salmon, I showed people how to shape the raw fish into Chinese firecrackers – another symbol of good luck. This is easy to prepare and looks great in the family meal.’
An important note here is that, even though Ren is showing followers how to shape sashimi in a way that appeals to the Chinese table, the core product remains the same. This is decoration rather than a recipe
that deviates from raw salmon as the go-to.
Even outside of special occasions, Ren says Norwegian seafood resonates well. This is because it represents quality and freshness but also because ‘the backbone of Chinese cooking is how you season your food. It’s much less about the base ingredient.’
And this means you can easily adapt a new product. ‘With a salmon filet for example, we might use soy sauce and sugar to cook it, or we might just steam the filet. With mackerel, maybe a roasted pork sauce to make it spicy and salty. These flavours will be recognised as Chinese and work well to integrate imported foods into homes.’