On this first day back at work, are you still reminiscing about the flavors of the Spring Festival reunion dinner? Taking stock of the trendiest ways to celebrate this Lunar New Year, many have discovered that with the help of AI assistants, the reunion dinner is no longer a challenge to please everyone. As technology blends with the festive atmosphere of the Chinese New Year, countless individuals found their holiday preparations more efficient and heartwarming, thanks to this new digital helper, adding a touch of thoughtful innovation to traditional celebrations.
Before the festival, Xiao Yu in Beijing was video-calling her mother in their hometown of Weifang, Shandong, to plan the reunion dinner. This annual task became significantly easier this year with the assistance of "Wenxin." Her mother, who has high blood pressure, requires a low-salt, low-fat diet; her father loves fish but worries about bones; and they wanted to try new dishes with auspicious meanings but were concerned about complex recipes. These common holiday preparation challenges became minor worries for many, and the deep search function of "Wenxin" precisely addressed such personalized needs.
By opening the Baidu app and accessing the Wenxin dialogue box at the bottom, users can simply voice their specific requests to quickly receive customized solutions. Xiao Yu spoke into the microphone: "Help me design a reunion dinner menu for a family of three. My mother has high blood pressure and needs low-salt, low-fat options; my father likes fish but is wary of bones; the dishes should have auspicious meanings and be simple to prepare." Within ten seconds, Wenxin generated a detailed, Shandong-style menu that balanced health, taste, and festive spirit, complete with nutritional information, symbolic meanings, step-by-step instructions, and ingredient quantities.
Tailored to Xiao Yu's family, the main dish—steamed sea bass—was a perfect fit. A classic finale for a Shandong reunion dinner, symbolizing abundance year after year, the sea bass has only a main bone structure, solving the issue of bones. The steaming method uses minimal oil and salt, enhanced with scallions, ginger, and a light soy sauce, meeting the dietary needs for high blood pressure, while a touch of local scallion oil highlighted the richness of Shandong cuisine. Pre-meal fruits like kumquats and apples aligned with hometown traditions, symbolizing good fortune and peace, respectively. A colorful, simple-to-make five-blessing salad represented the arrival of all blessings, and a mildly sweet papaya milk dessert balanced taste and health.
Thoughtfully, Wenxin also optimized the recipes for the mother's condition: reducing salt by a third, suggesting shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp for umami, and using water chestnuts to replace some fatty meat in meatballs for a leaner, non-greasy result. A precise shopping list was also generated, specifying exact gram amounts for ingredients like shrimp and eggs, streamlining the entire preparation process from shopping to cooking. Xiao Yu saved the menu and list to WeChat, allowing her mother to follow along effortlessly.
Beyond customizing the dinner menu, Wenxin's diverse AI functions integrated into various aspects of the Spring Festival, serving as an all-around holiday assistant. The AI writing feature can generate couplets in different styles based on keywords; Xiao Yu input "couplets symbolizing peace and reunion," instantly receiving tailored options for her father to write and paste on the door, enhancing the festive spirit. The AI image generation tool created countdown posters for the reunion dinner, which she set as her phone wallpaper, adding ceremony to the anticipation of returning home. When the family gathered for the meal and took a group photo, the AI photo-editing function optimized the image, automatically adding fitting captions like "The greatest flavor in life is family reunion," preserving the warm moments of the New Year.
Recalling New Year's Eve, Xiao Yu noted that upon arriving home, her mother had already prepped the ingredients according to the menu, while her father contemplated the placement of the couplets. Following Wenxin's voice-guided steps, Xiao Yu prepared the steamed sea bass, and mother and daughter worked together seamlessly to create a steaming feast. The tender fish, refreshing salads, and warm dessert delighted the family, with her father remarking, "This year's dinner has the traditional taste but new conveniences—it's worry-free and delicious."
As fireworks lit up the sky outside, the home was filled with warmth. The power of technology embedded care and blessings into every dish, couplet, and photo, making each family's reunion dinner brim with happiness.