1. Eggs for the Beginning of Summer: Salted eggs are eaten in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai areas. Eggs are also eaten on the day of the Beginning of Summer, which is called "Building Summer".

Salted duck eggs are best, because salted duck eggs are rich in calcium, iron and other inorganic salts. The calcium and iron content are higher than eggs and fresh duck eggs. They are the first choice for supplementing calcium and iron in summer.

"Beginning of Summer Eggs" is the most classic food on the day of Beginning of Summer. Eating it can prevent common discomforts such as loss of appetite, tired body and weak limbs in summer.

Beginning of summer eggs can be boiled eggs or salted duck eggs.

When boiling eggs, you usually use tea leaves or walnut shells to boil them. Watch the eggshells slowly turn red and fill the house with a fragrant aroma.

Salted duck eggs are rich in calcium and iron, so you can try them.

2. Black rice: Black rice is black and shiny, fragrant and delicious. It is made by soaking glutinous rice in black leaves and cooking it for several hours.

On the day of Beginning of Summer, everyone in rural areas of Jiangnan loves to eat it.

It is said that this custom originated from Sun Bin, a famous military strategist during the Warring States Period.

There is also a folk legend that if you eat black rice at the beginning of summer, you will not be bitten by mosquitoes in summer and will not be prone to heatstroke.

Black rice was originally a Han folk festival food and was available in the Tang Dynasty.

In areas of Jiangsu and Anhui, on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, many families use black rice leaves to cook black rice, which has become a custom.

3. Qijia porridge: "Qijia porridge" is a must-eat at the beginning of summer in rural areas of Zhejiang, also called "Qijia tea".

Qijia porridge is made by collecting rice from neighboring families, adding various beans and brown sugar, and cooking it into a big pot of porridge for everyone to share.

For Qijia Tea, each family brings their newly roasted tea leaves, mixes them, cooks or brews them into a large pot of tea, and then everyone gathers together to drink it.

During the Beginning of Summer, Hangzhou people cook fresh food and prepare fruit cakes. They serve tea and give gifts to relatives and neighbors, which is called "Qijia Tea at the Beginning of Summer".

4. Taste three delicacies: Wuxi people have always had the custom of tasting three delicacies at the beginning of summer.

The three delicacies are divided into three delicacies: ground delicacies, tree delicacies, and water delicacies.

The three delicacies of the ground are broad beans, amaranth, and cucumbers (some say they are amaranth, wheat, broad beans, and others say they are amaranth, broad beans, and garlic seedlings); the three delicacies of the trees are cherries, loquats, and apricots (one say they are plums, apricots, and cherries,

It is also said to be plums, cherries, and toon heads); the three delicacies of water are sea clams, pufferfish, and anchovies (one says it is anchovy, pomfret, and yellow croaker, while others say it is anchovy, whitebait, and anchovy).

Among them, tasting the three delicacies of the ground is the most common.