Where Does Meat Come From? Your Table, His Pasture | Nanjing Event Invitation

This year marks the UN-designated International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. To raise awareness of rangelands and pastoralists, the investigative documentary *Whose Table, Whose Pasture?*, supported by the Foodthink Lianhe Creation Programme, will be screened in Nanjing on the afternoon of 26 May. Following the screening, Tianle from Foodthink will be on hand to discuss the film with the audience.

The documentary *Whose Table, Whose Pasture?* draws on field research from the rangelands around Qinghai Lake, exploring how a sustained drop in local livestock prices and a surge of imported frozen meat in the market have impacted pastoralists’ livelihoods and ways of life. We are not merely “meat-eaters”; we are consumers. When faced with beef and lamb on our tables, do we truly know where it comes from or how it is reared? And in the pastoral areas far beyond, what are herders going through?

Rangelands are not merely places for grazing, but are closely tied to grassland ecology, local economies, and the daily lives of pastoralists. When we discuss pastoral areas and pastoralists, the challenges faced in different regions may vary, yet each deserves to be seen and debated. Foodthink hopes to use this occasion to join you in bringing attention to our rangelands and pastoralists.

◉The sheep flock at the home of Niangerjia, one of the main subjects in *Whose Table, Whose Pasture?* Photo: Jiao Xiaofang

◉Return visits are an essential part of community media. In 2025, Jiao Xiaofang returned to the filming location to screen the documentary *Whose Table, Whose Pasture?* for the herders. Photo: Jiao Xiaofang

*Whose Table, Whose Pasture?* goes beyond simply asking, “Where does the meat come from?” or “Where is the meat you eat from?”. Instead, it probes: as imported meat floods the market, who is truly bearing the strain? Who is paying the price for what ends up on the table?

Tuesday 26 May at 19:00, Foodthink will screen the documentary Whose Table, Whose Pasture? at Tao Gu Park TOKU GALLERY, located on the 1st floor of the North Building, Xinanli Master Studio, Qinhuai District, Nanjing. Friends in Nanjing are warmly invited to attend and watch together.

 – Film Synopsis – 

*Whose Table, Whose Pasture?* is an investigative documentary. Supported by the Foodthink Lianhe Creation Programme, the filmmakers venture into the rangelands around Qinghai Lake to document the impact of imported frozen beef and mutton flooding local markets.

Through visits to Xining’s frozen meat wholesale markets and cold-chain warehouses, alongside footage of local pastoralist households, butcher shops, and feedlots, the film lays bare the disruption caused by imported meat’s price advantage to local beef and mutton markets. The direct result is a sharp drop in livestock purchase prices for herders, reduced incomes, and mounting debt, while local meat traders struggle with razor-thin margins and faltering business.

Diving into the imported beef and mutton markets around Qinghai Lake, the film probes a harsh reality: within the global meat supply chain, who benefits from low prices, and who bears the cost?

Jiao Xiaofang | Documentary filmmaker and researcher in visual anthropology, she has long focused on local knowledge, ecological ethics, and women’s experiences in Western China and coastal South-east Asia. Her work combines ethnographic observation with poetic expression, exploring the relationship between humans and nature, as well as the emotional landscapes of everyday life. Her 2025 documentary, Whose Table, Whose Pasture?, was selected for the 5th World Nomad Film Festival and the 6th China Ethnographic Documentary Film Festival.

Qiongwu Danzeng | Tibetan documentarian and community activist, he has long been dedicated to ecological conservation and filmmaking education across the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. He previously served as the Tibetan region project coordinator for Yunnan’s “Rural Eyes” and as a regional representative for the Alxa SEE Sanjiangyuan Project Centre. He now leads the “Human–Bear Conflict Project” at the Qinghai Xuejing Ecological Education and Research Centre. Over the past decade, he has promoted film training and community ecological initiatives for pastoralists in Yushu, Aba and elsewhere, empowering them to document their own environments and cultures. His work bridges filmmaking, ecology and public education, aiming to build understanding and coexistence between people and nature.

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