After cucumber flowers and colorful eggs became popular on the Internet some time ago, Hema recently set off a heat wave on social platforms with its "Harvard Vegetable Soup" clean vegetable package - a multi-9 yuan set meal containing pumpkin, onions, and carrots was ridiculed by some netizens as an IQ tax of "cutting a knife is several times more expensive".

But even so, the product still occupies the first place in the sales list of Hema clean vegetables in Hangzhou and other regions, and even drove many netizens to share various "explosive vegetable soup" posts on social platforms.

Hema "Harvard Vegetable Soup" with the same clean dish

Crazy snapped up by young people

This popular "Harvard vegetable soup" is actually essentially a clean vegetable (also known as fresh sterilized vegetables, which is a product made by sorting, washing, sterilizing, etc., and vacuum-packaging the newly picked vegetables in a sterile environment. There are carrots, pumpkin, cabbage and red onions in it, a total of 9g weight, which needs to be refrigerated in the refrigerator and costs more than 0 yuan.

The reason why it is called Harvard vegetable soup is because it is rumored that this soup was invented by a former professor of cancer and immunity at Harvard University, and the combination of ingredients has anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and slimming effects. These benefits have attracted the attention of a large number of people who are concerned about health and weight loss, making Harvard vegetable packs attract attention in the market.

However, more young people buy it not to lose weight, but simply find it convenient + efficient.

As we all know, the most time-consuming step of cooking is actually the preparation of the food. Generally, it is necessary to go through the whole process of cleaning, peeling, and cutting vegetables, if there are meat dishes that need to be cut and then cleaned and pickled, the enthusiasm for cooking under this set of processes is half extinguished, and buying clean vegetables directly can save a lot of time, especially the net vegetables with just the right amount and different vegetables to match, coupled with the "health" aura that comes with the name "Harvard Vegetable Soup", it can be said that it directly hits the pain point of health anxiety of workers, and this vegetable package is becoming more and more popular.

Not only this Harvard vegetable bag, the reporter saw in the Hema offline store that similar mixed "clean vegetables" and separate "clean vegetables" are very popular with young people, such as Kung Pao chicken diced in Hema Workshop, chili fried meat (net dish), fried yellow beef, the price is mostly 9.0 yuan-0.0 yuan, and the combination of green onions, ginger and garlic, peeled and sliced potatoes and lotus roots that have been processed are basically in a state of emptiness.

There are also different specifications of leave-in mixed vegetable salad, with specifications of 10g, 0g and 0g, and the price is also more than 0 yuan.

On the Little Elephant Supermarket and Dingdong grocery app, there are also many such clean vegetable combinations, which are also quite popular.

　　另外，在電商平臺上，除了常見的新鮮淨菜組合，各種脫水、凍乾類的蔬菜塊、凍乾蔬菜杯銷量動輒過萬，尤其是凍乾蔬菜杯，用開水泡一泡就能吃，變成了不少減肥人士的“代餐”。

"Lazy Light" or "IQ Tax"

Netizens argued about it

For the popularity of clean vegetable products represented by "Harvard Vegetable Soup", some netizens feel that there is no cost performance, and it is completely an "IQ tax" product, if you use the same 400.0 yuan to buy vegetables, you can buy far more than 0g:

"I can buy 4 catties of pumpkins for 0 yuan and 0, and I can buy 0 catties of carrots in the vegetable market."

"It's only been a few minutes to wash and chop vegetables? If the difference is converted into an hourly wage of your own salary, you will not buy this IQ tax product. ”

"Don't you usually go to the vegetable market?"

"I feel that the people I will buy are all young and young, with no life experience, and the price of a few cuts has increased several times."

Some netizens also feel that clean dishes are completely "lazy people's light", and they are safer and more hygienic than ordinary dishes:

"Doesn't it take time to run around the supermarket to get all these ingredients?"

"I buy a lot of groceries at a time and I can't eat them, and this amount is just enough for one person."

"Clean vegetables are not prepared dishes, and the vegetables are cleaned and disinfected, which also reduces the risk of pesticide residues and bacterial contamination."

"It used to take an hour to cook, but now it can be done in a few minutes, and the workers want to save some time to make themselves happier, do they have to toss themselves?"

There are also many netizens who posted their own strategies for "exploding and changing clean dishes", such as adding Chaoshan beef balls, curry packets, tomato sauce and other ingredients to the soup.

The clean vegetable economy is quietly emerging

Why do young people like to buy clean vegetables?

In fact, clean vegetables have not only become popular in recent years. The so-called clean vegetables are also called side dishes, there are many factories on the market that specialize in the production of this kind of clean vegetables, and some professional vegetable distribution centers will also provide vegetable cleaning and cutting services, but most of the users are enterprises and institutions, chain catering canteens and kitchens.

　　不過近年來，淨菜越來越多地出現在各大生鮮購買平臺和超市裡，中研產業研究院發佈的《2024-2029年蔬菜行業競爭格局及“十四五”企業投資戰略研究報告》數據顯示，中國淨菜市場規模從2014年的570.9億元增長至2022年的2757.5億元，年均增長率超過15%。2023年市場規模已突破3000億元，並將在未來幾年內繼續保持穩定增長態勢。

　　淨菜的流行和當下90后、00後年輕人的生活節奏及做飯技能相關，在美團研究院的消費者做飯技能調查中，完全不會做飯的消費者佔比超33%，會做飯但沒條件的消費者佔比達14%。而切配好的淨菜，僅需簡單烹飪就能完成，而且價格比起外賣還是相對更具有優勢的。

In addition, the shelf life of vacuum-packed clean vegetables is basically within 4 days, and some small supermarkets will sell out or clear on the same day, so the freshness of the ingredients is relatively guaranteed, and it looks healthier than traditional prefabricated dishes.

The popular essence of clean vegetables is the value game of time and money, which is not only the product of consumption upgrading, but also the compromise of young people to fast-paced life. In the future, with the progress and development of technology, clean vegetables may move from "high-priced niche" to "inclusive public", but the core contradiction is always this: can consumers find a balance between efficiency and cost, convenience and cost performance?

Source: Morning News