Five-Star Hotels Selling Boxes Of Zongzi (Glutinous Rice Dumplings) For Upwards Of $200#
In China, you can bet that any item worth giving a "luxury makeover" will get it soon -- if it hasn't already -- and that someone somewhere will be willing to pay for it. We've recently seen this via $10,000 pots of tea in Hainan province and upscale moon cake, but this week an iFeng article covers "luxury zongzi." Zongzi -- dumplings made of glutinous rice and stuffed with different fillings then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed -- are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (which takes place from early- to mid-June).
From the article (translation by Jing Daily team):
With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, this reporter found that the average price of a box of zongzi is in the 300-400 yuan ($44-59) range, but high-priced dumplings costing 1,266 yuan ($185) might just cause some consumers' jaws to hit the floor.
At Park N Shop, [I] saw a box set of zongzi that cost 496 yuan ($73) and really attracted people's attention. They were filled with abalone. I found that zongzi at a price point above 300 yuan all had expensive fillings like abalone or bird's nest. At five hotels that were at the four-star level at least, zongzi typically cost over 600 yuan per box, with one set that cost 1,266 yuan getting the title of "most extravagant."
In addition to using organic rice and abalone or sea cucumber, many of the high-end gift boxes used rare duck eggs and came with sets of collectible chopsticks and other things. It seems like consumers who are buying these beautiful gift boxes aren't eating zongzi, they're eating luxury!