In the past, having fresh grains was one of the main traditions among the folks in China. The pronunciation of having fresh grains in Chinese resembles the sound of surviving hardship, which means the first day of going through hardship.

A saying in Chinese involves different kinds of food: dumplings, noodles, the Chinese tortilla and scrambled eggs. Dumplings are the traditional and household food among Chinese.

When the dog day comes, people tend to lose their appetites, and dumplings can refresh people’s feeling toward food. People in Shandong Province enjoy having cucumbers and boiled eggs to live through it. Folks in Xuzhou City like to eat mutton when the days come. This custom can be dated back to Yao and Shun Dynasty. It is said that one bowl of mutton soup will keep the doctors away. Lotus roots are all the rage among the folks. There are plenty of carbohydrates, vitamins, and dietary fibers in lotus roots. You will gain great benefits from having lotus roots with honey. There is a Chinese saying which goes that the finless eel on the day of Minor Heat is as good as ginseng. Eels are habituated to live in the mud and the eels are quite nutritious and delicious on the day of Minor Heat and they can function as the pills to cure some diseases.

Improving the diet of the cow is one of the traditions of Linqin in Shandong province. When the dog day comes, giving the cow some boiled water added mairen can strengthen its health and make it stronger.

The time of Minor Heat comes when all kinds of melons are being harvested. The water temperature near the coast of Taiwan is mild which attracts huge numbers of fish. The north part of Keelung is quite famous for its production of Seriola dumerili and Dicrossus maculates.

What eating mango on the day of Minor Heat actually refers to is the mango harvest time. Baihe town in Tainan County is famous for lotus seeds and nuts. Every year, the festival of lotus is held there.