Foodthink Says Why would a girl from the north, who has never even seen sugarcane, head south to grow it? Why would a short-video creator find themselves laughed at by farmers? Why would a PhD candidate refer to themselves as a primary school pupil? Why would a tea research specialist…
Foodthink Commentary This is the second set of field notes from our visit to fishing communities in southern Thailand. This January, Foodthink accompanied Blue Climate Partners into fishing villages along Thailand’s southern coast to observe how small-scale fishers safeguard marine resources. Across three mangrove communities on the Andaman Sea coast,…
Last year, standing by a field edge in Yunnan’s hills, I saw rice for the first time sprouting directly from level soil, with no flooded paddies or irrigation ditches in sight. For many, rice is inextricably linked to flooded paddies. Yet it can just as easily be cultivated on dry,…
Foodthink Says On 17 January 2026, Mercosur (including nations such as Argentina and Brazil, hereafter referred to as Mercosur) and the European Union formally signed a free trade agreement in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. Prior to the signing, the pact had already sparked widespread protests among European farmers. They…
Each year, 315 sees a concentrated public focus on food safety. Yet, the impact of “digital pickled mustard greens” – this form of virtual sustenance – on dietary wellbeing has yet to command adequate attention. Short videos, television dramas, variety shows, podcasts… content collectively dubbed “digital pickled mustard greens” has…
Foodthink Says In January this year, Foodthink joined Blue Climate Partners to visit fishing villages in southern Thailand to understand how small-scale fishers and grassroots NGOs are joining forces to combat overfishing and achieve a win-win for both conservation and livelihoods by establishing “community-managed protected areas”. Journeying from Trang to…
In 1972, British scientist John Yudkin published a book titled Pure, White and Deadly. The protagonist of that book was sugar—pure, white sugar. The protagonist of this short piece is sugar too, but the sweet kind. Here, ‘sugar’ refers to sugar itself, sweets, and added sugars in food. On an…
Foodthink Says In 1948, the central government decided to import tractors from the Soviet Union to bring the vast, untamed lands of Beidahuang under cultivation. At the same time, to train agricultural machinery operators, a tractor driver training programme was launched at the Beian Reclamation Area in Heilongjiang. Eighteen-year-old Liang…
I. Climate Change in the No. 1 Document For the first time, the term “low-carbon agriculture” appears in the 2026 Central No. 1 Document. Nearly six years have passed since China announced its “dual carbon” goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality to tackle climate change. This does not mark…
When you step into a McDonald’s and take your place at the counter for your usual meal deal, can you sense it: behind that open kitchen, a highly orchestrated “production battle” is underway. In the lore of the fast-food empire, everything is standardised: a strict 90-second service window, fryers held…
