Updated July 2026
What does 电子榨菜 mean?
电子榨菜 (diàn zǐ zhà cài) means something to watch while you eat in everyday Chinese slang. Easy, low-effort content watched while eating — the show you put on so you are not just staring at your food. Literally, it means "electronic pickled mustard".
Hear it explained
A 30-second take on 电子榨菜 — what it means, where it came from, and how to use it.
榨菜 is the cheap pickled mustard you eat with plain rice so the meal goes down easier. 电子榨菜, diàn zǐ zhà cài, is the digital version. 我的电子榨菜是那种十分钟的解说视频. It is not the meal. It is what makes the meal bearable. A brutally honest name for what we watch while eating.
Example
我的电子榨菜是那种十分钟的解说视频。
Wǒ de diàn zǐ zhà cài shì nà zhǒng shí fēnzhōng de jiěshuō shìpín.
My mealtime watching is those ten-minute recap videos.
Where 电子榨菜 comes from
榨菜 is the cheap pickled mustard eaten alongside plain rice to make it go down — 下饭. The digital version got its name the same way, and spread as more young people ate alone: something to eat with, as much as something to watch. It made the national language-monitoring centre's top-ten list back in 2022.
Related slang
To follow a serial as each new instalment drops — dramas, web novels, comics, or a creator's series.
To have your attention completely captured — "this 硬控 me for ten minutes". It sounds like a complaint and is usually a compliment: the thing was good enough that you could not look away.
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