Another Mid-Autumn Festival has come around. Gifts pass between relatives and friends, and mooncakes invariably take centre stage. The tins range from ornate to understated: Cantonese or Suzhou style, fresh meat or strictly vegan, handmade and organic. Here comes a venerable Hong Kong brand; over there, it’s the latest viral…
A Note from Foodthink Released this August, the film Another Day Full of Hope stands out not only as the most profound exploration to date of food delivery and algorithms, but also as a rare work of realist cinema in recent years. On 4 September, Foodthink invited director Liu Taifeng…
This summer, relentless rain across North China has made farming feel like opening a blind box. Vegetable prices have also surged. Summer is traditionally the harvest season for fruits and vegetables, yet this year there is little to reap. Sowing, normally carried out in August, was postponed until early September.…
Editor’s Note A plate of steamed chicken with peas had the children salivating, and left the regulars at the recently reopened Little Dining Table licking their lips. Yet, however memorable a farm-grown dish may be, miss it this year and you must wait until next. Food from the land grows…
In August 2024, two feature films about the food delivery industry premiered. Coinciding with their release, Hangzhou witnessed two sudden incidents involving delivery riders: in August, a confrontation between a rider and a security guard sparked a collective protest by nearby couriers; in September, a top-performing rider known as a…
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.…
