2023: Do We Actually Need a New Year’s Plan? | Food Talk Vol. 14
In 2022, Foodthink launched our podcast Food Talk, releasing 12 episodes throughout the year. Moving beyond our familiar written pieces and events, we could finally connect with friends across the country through the medium of sound. We were absolutely delighted to welcome over 1,400 subscribers to the platform, and we want to extend our heartfelt thanks.
With the Lunar New Year just around the corner, the entire team gathered in the Foodthink office. Centred on the theme ‘Please Answer 2023’, we took stock of the year that was 2022 and shared our hopes and expectations for 2023.
If we had to sum up 2022 in a single word, it would undoubtedly be ‘lockdown’. Six of our colleagues at Foodthink even found themselves confined to the office for seven days. Though it has only been two months since the restrictions were lifted, in our minds, that period already feels like a distant memory.
Amid the strict lockdowns, some colleagues mastered new culinary skills over the course of the year, from brewing kombucha and making yoghurt to fermenting kimchi and baking bao and mantou. Others, longing for a connection with nature, spent nearly every weekend hiking the wild mountains around Beijing with a loaf of homemade bread in hand. And after much deliberation, a few made the decision to leave the country at the height of the restrictions, heading to Barcelona, Spain, to begin a master’s degree programme…
As we look ahead to a reopened 2023, what New Year’s plans are you all setting for yourselves?
This episode is packed with energy from start to finish, delivering non-stop laughs and proving far more entertaining than the Spring Festival Gala. Whose assessment of a colleague had everyone in stitches? Who was working on a project only to lose their heart to it? Whose story left Xiaojing exclaiming, “I wouldn’t watch *Rock & Roast* without you”?
So, hit play and tune in to this sprawling group crosstalk extravaganza.
Guests
Tianle
Founding Editor at Foodthink, the team’s culinary floor and master of quick, no-fuss meals, as well as organiser for the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. His New Year’s resolutions are pretty much the same each year, largely because they rarely stick.
Wan Lin
Foodthink project officer. A Chongqing native who can’t handle spicy food. The team’s undisputed cooking champion, a dab hand around the house, and a decluttering enthusiast.
Zeyan
Foodthink editor and devoted fan of QQ emoticons. Neither a culinary snob nor particularly fussy, but harbours a foodie’s heart eager to experiment with all manner of dishes (inserts a QQ smiley face).
Wang Hao
Foodthink editor. When it comes to food preferences, they’ll claim to be a northerner in front of southerners and a southerner in front of northerners, but they’re actually a Beijinger.
Qihua
Foodthink project advisor. Grew up on his dad’s delicious home cooking, he has the genetic make-up of a natural cook – a talent rather sidelined by studies and work.
Xiao Chao
Foodthink project officer. Navigating the winding path between decluttering and hoarding, all while developing rather hit-and-miss cooking skills.
Fang Yuan
A new member at Foodthink, responsible for coordinating the Beijing Harvest Festival. Eagerly picking up bits and pieces of food and farming knowledge from all sorts of articles.
This Episode’s Host
Xiaojing
This episode’s question-asker, a newcomer to food and agriculture, and mother of two. Her New Year’s plan is probably just “to make it to the airport at least once.”
Timestamps
00:30 Subject Analysis: What changes have we seen in ourselves in 2022?
01:32 As 2022 comes to an end, what’s it like to be locked down in the office with six colleagues for seven days? Is a real-life *Friends* actually fun? Foodthink founding editor Tianle gives a tearful account.
04:29 Wanlin (Wanica), dubbed Foodthink’s very own Monica, shares her story of attempting to perfectly recreate Chongqing spicy noodles during lockdown.
09:20 After just a month on the job, colleague Fang Yuan finds herself locked down with new team members she’s only met a handful of times. “I’ve only been here a little over a month, but I already think everyone’s rather peculiar. Why are they so much more serious about food than work?”
14:28 Now in their second year at Foodthink, colleague Ze’en—once a complete kitchen novice—has unlocked a whole host of new skills: brewing kefir, fermenting kimchi (with a few mishaps), and making steamed buns and baozi.
19:43 Colleague Xiao Chao, who’s started hiking off-the-beaten-track trails every week, has fully embraced the wild and decided to quit their job in the New Year—is it safe to say that out loud?
24:34 Host Wang Hao shares a tale from our 2022 Food Talk podcast recording journey: after struggling to find an air-conditioned room in the sweltering 41°C heat, they had to keep it switched off to avoid background noise, opting instead to turn it on for a few minutes every twenty minutes just to cool down.
30:52 Carrying the hopes of the entire editorial team, Qihua decided to travel to Barcelona, Spain for her master’s programme fieldwork just before travel restrictions fully lifted. She shares her experience of travelling under immense pressure, wryly noting: “Your husband’s love for you is just €20, while your love for your son weighs in at a hefty 20kg.”
40:27 What did we spot in Barcelona, the “European vegetable garden”?
44:59 What’s everyone’s plan for 2023? Travelling abroad / becoming a home-growing “veg friend” / hoping to finally shake off long-COVID symptoms… But stepping back, is it really necessary to make New Year’s plans at all?
01:02:27 The entire Foodthink team wishes you all a Happy New Year!
To mark the joyous occasion of the Lunar New Year
We’ll also be giving away some gifts!
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Foodthink wishes you all a Happy New Year!
Wishing you all good health and that you eat well!
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Podcast Production Team
Planning & Production: Xiao Jing
Cover Art: Wan Lin
Music: Ba Nong
Editorial: Wang Hao
Email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn