Vegetables eaten from winter to day include kelp, lily, onion, yam, oats, spinach, rape, Chinese cabbage and so on. Kelp is salty, cold, non-toxic, soft and tight, expectorant and antiasthmatic, dredging channels and promoting diuresis, lowering blood fat and lowering blood pressure. Seawater is cold and cool, which can increase the cold resistance of human body. Lily contains starch, protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, iron and a small amount of vitamins and alkaloids. White as dew, polished like jade, mellow and delicious, rich in nutrition, it is a tonic, nourishing and moistening, filling the helpless fire, and will not hurt the body.

The custom of winter solstice varies in content or details due to different regions. In southern China, there are customs of offering sacrifices to ancestors and enjoying the winter solstice. In northern China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi from winter to Sunday every year.

Eating dumplings is a traditional custom from winter solstice, especially in the south of the Yangtze River. "Tangyuan" is an indispensable food in winter solstice, and "round" means "reunion" and "perfection". Eating glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter is also called "the solstice in winter". There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls makes you one year older".

In the traditional customs of Ningbo, sweet potato soup is one of the must-eat foods in winter solstice. "Fan" and "Fan" are homophones. In Ningbo people's understanding, eating sweet potatoes on the solstice in winter means "turning over" all the bad luck of the past year. Tang Guo is similar to jiaozi, much smaller and without stuffing. Tang Guo is also called jiaozi, which means "reunion" and "perfection". There is also a saying in old Ningbo that "you are one year older after eating soup".