Meeting Nichole was when I first began to grasp just how dire the state of modern food and living environments has become. In the United States, expanses of immaculately manicured front lawns are nothing short of an environmental catastrophe. According to the environmental group Friends of the Earth, Americans spray…
Do we truly understand today’s agriculture and food? When it comes to farming, the first image that springs to mind for many is still that age-old picture of farmers toiling in the fields. Yet in reality, propelled by technology and capital, the landscape of modern agriculture has been transformed beyond…
Is the future where artificial intelligence replaces humans still a long way off? Some have already begun to worry about having their jobs snatched from under them. Meanwhile, the widespread deployment of algorithms in sectors such as food delivery and retail has already transformed the way ordinary people eat. Yet…
As a food lover, I do not eat meat, but I simply cannot live without beans – soybeans, mung beans, adzuki beans, black beans, and chickpeas. Although I generally shun commercially bought food and strive to eat what we cultivate ourselves, the consumption of soy products at Evil Valley has…
Not long ago, news of edible oil being mixed with other substances in tanker trucks flooded the media, leaving many wondering whether they too had fallen victim. While having enough to eat is no longer an issue, ensuring that our food is both safe and healthy remains far from guaranteed.…
I. Returning to the Countryside: A Connection with Pengcheng Natural Farm I was raised in a Hakka village in eastern Guangdong, and as a child, I frequently yearned for the outside world. In 2015, my wish came true when I moved to Guangzhou, a major metropolis, to continue my education.…
Although the Paris Olympics concluded last week, the doping controversies remain far from settled. Amidst the uproar, at least three incidents tied to food safety have surfaced: In the end, all three cases were ruled to be the result of consuming meat products “contaminated” with doping substances, rather than deliberate…
What shocks me about this man’s suffering is that it was unnecessary. — Bertolt Brecht The film *Against the Flow*, which centres on food-delivery riders, has been in cinemas for over a week. Few films provoke such widespread and heated debate before they even premiere. Two sharply opposing viewpoints have…
From foraging and hunting to slash-and-burn agriculture, from generations of field labour, to GMOs, drones, cultivated meat and even artificial intelligence, and from home cooking to relying on delivery services, humanity’s agricultural and food systems have undergone a complete revolution. The dramatic shifts within our farmland reflect the impact of…
Foodthink says 15 August marks National Ecology Day. When ecology and biodiversity come to mind, we tend to think first of wild animals or the Amazon rainforest; few consider the intricate relationship between agriculture and ecosystems. In fact, over the past seven decades, the negative impacts of agricultural expansion and…
