Spicy crayfish, pickled fish, braised meat... In recent years, with the upgrading of consumption and the acceleration of people's pace of life, the prefabricated food industry has become a new favorite of the catering industry. Especially since the outbreak of COVID-19, home office has become popular, and it is difficult to get together offline. Prefabricated dishes have provided a new choice for many "migrant workers" who pursue a fast-paced work life and covet delicious food, so they are hot in the market. Data show that during the May Day holiday this year, the sales of prefabricated vegetables on an e-commerce platform increased by more than 80% year-on-year. Crispy meat, pickled fish and grilled fish have become the favorites of young people. During the Spring Festival this year, the sales of high-end prefabricated dishes such as fotiaoqiang increased by 300% year-on-year, and millions of prefabricated dishes were sold in just seven days. The hot prefabricated food is not a new thing, but an advanced version of processed food. According to the group standard of "prepared dishes" recently drafted by the China Cuisine Association in conjunction with a number of units, the definition of "prepared dishes is" finished or semi-finished dishes that are pre packaged with one or more agricultural products as the main raw materials, using standardized flow operations, through pre-processing (such as cutting, stirring, curing, rolling, shaping, seasoning, etc.) and / or pre cooking (such as frying, frying, roasting, boiling, steaming, etc.). From this broad definition, many categories can be regarded as prefabricated dishes. The industry divides them into four categories: instant, such as Babao porridge and instant cans; Instant heat, such as quick-frozen dumplings and self heating hot pot; Instant cooking, semi-finished dishes that must be heated for cooking; Ready to serve, such as clean dishes without washing or cutting. During the epidemic period, the convenience and quickness of prefabricated vegetables met the home dining needs of many consumers, which is the direct reason for the popularity of the prefabricated vegetables market. In this round of escalation of epidemic prevention and control measures in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities, catering institutions closed down or suspended food in the classroom, and schools were closed. Parents working at home often faced the "two-line battle" of online work and home-based childcare, and the process of home catering could only be simplified as much as possible. Prefabricated dishes have just filled this market gap. The strong demand has stimulated catering enterprises and capital forces to continuously enter the industry and launch new dishes to compete for consumers. From shrimp dumplings, pot stickers and snail powder, to beef fillet braised meat and fish in sour soup, and then to peanut, Maodou and crayfish at night, the prefabricated dishes on the market have included most of the home-made dishes. The online Red dishes loved by young "migrant workers" are the focus of R & D and marketing of prefabricated dish production enterprises. For the prefabricated vegetable production enterprises, the flavor determines how high they can go, and the safety determines how far they can go. On the one hand, compared with the ready-made and sold dishes, the biggest challenge is how to maintain the flavor of the dishes under the condition of long-term storage. Chinese culinary culture has a long history, and the ways to maintain the flavor of different dishes in different cuisines are very different. The refrigeration temperature, storage environment, heating method, packaging materials and other factors should be considered comprehensively, so as to make the dishes as stable as possible win market recognition. At present, some places are keenly aware of the market opportunities and take the initiative to organize local agricultural, commercial, food safety and other departments and leading catering enterprises to jointly tackle key problems and create the production standards and brands of prefabricated dishes for local specialty dishes. On the other hand, from the production, transportation, storage to consumer consumption, how to ensure the food safety and health of the whole chain and protect the "safety on the tip of the tongue" of the public determines whether the development of the prefabricated vegetable industry can be stable and far-reaching. Not long ago, an online shop in Chongqing sold prefabricated dishes (homemade dishes). Because it failed to post the production date, production batch number and other information as required, "the court awarded a refund of 50000 yuan for the reported three no products". Although it triggered a dispute about the legality and rationality of professional anti-counterfeiting, it also reflected from one side that the food safety supervision of prefabricated dishes should not be ignored. Although prefabricated vegetables have been shining during the epidemic, they may not be a flash in the pan. Their development prospects should be grasped from the perspective of the changes in production and communication modes brought about by information technology. The Internet has brought about the online transformation of traditional society. Online office has become a common production mode of many technology enterprises before the epidemic. This distributed cross domain collaboration will reshape people's communication and lifestyle, and will inevitably affect people's dining habits using meals as a social means. In the long run, the prefabricated vegetable industry, like e-commerce, online entertainment, online education, online office and other business forms, may gradually grow into a new economy worthy of key attention and long-term investment. (outlook new era)