Making Vitasoy ‘Local’ in Post-WWII Hong Kong: Traditionalizing Modernity, Engineering Progress, Nurturing Aspirations

Now considered a quintessential Hong Kong household food product, Vitasoy won the approval of local consumers only in the post–World War II period as its producer capitalized on the discourse of modern nutritional science, leveraged tech-nological breakthroughs, and positioned the soy beverage to respond to a growing clientele experiencing economic growth and lifestyle transformation. In the emerging market and socio-cultural conditions of postwar Hong Kong, Vitasoy’s producer created a local beverage that articulated for the city a modernity that originated in a Chinese national discourse but then blos-somed into a celebration of the lifestyle that economic progress enabled.