Urban food life, consumption behavior, and food culture.
The north has seen remarkably heavy rainfall this year, stretching from the torrential summer downpours right through to the lingering autumn drizzle. For this episode of *Food Talk*, we’ll begin by talking about those recent rains. We’ve invited Yu Yang, a former delivery rider who now works as an editor…
The sweltering summer is about to end, but the autumn rains may prove just as chilling. This summer has been far from typical. Extreme rainfall and scorching heatwaves have swept across the country in quick succession. Surface temperatures in Shaanxi peaked at a staggering 72.9°C. Harbin, deep in the northeast,…
Foodthink’s Take Since early June, a video titled “From a City Besieged by Waste to a Shortage of Trash to Burn: China’s Speed Leaves the West Stunned” has spread rapidly online. The prospect of shovelling unsightly waste into an incinerator to burn it all away, then harnessing the released energy…
Not long ago, Nature Cities published an article detailing how urban residents in China shift the risks of heat exposure onto food delivery riders simply by ordering takeaway. The logic is straightforward enough, but when torrential rain or scorching heatwaves strike, the delivery rider is reduced to little more than…
Foodthink Says Globally, a growing number of scholars, policymakers, and practitioners are championing and adopting the concept of “agroecology”. While this term may still feel somewhat unfamiliar in Chinese-speaking contexts, it is frequently translated as “ecological farming”. Yet “ecological farming” falls far short of capturing the rich, multifaceted nature of…
From the media dispute between JD.com and Meituan over delivery riders’ social insurance in April, to the new regulations mandating compulsory contributions from 1 September, the working conditions of these riders have increasingly drawn public attention. Yet for many of them, social insurance remains a distant concept, overshadowed by the…
Since early June, a video titled “From a City Besieged by Waste to Not Enough Waste to Burn: China’s Speed Leaves the West Bewildered” has spread rapidly online. The notion of simply tossing unsightly rubbish into incinerators for a thorough burn, then harnessing the released energy for electricity, has left…
Recently, someone quipped that McDonald’s has transformed into an unfeeling ‘middle-aged’ entity, having traded its childlike wonder and youthful vigour for the drab routine of a canteen catering to wage labourers. Yet in truth, McDonald’s has never been short of such workers. I found myself genuinely taken aback, and suspect…
Foodthink Says “Stories about food are the best stories we can tell.” This is what Dan Saladino, a senior BBC correspondent, said in an interview with Foodthink at the Third International Congress on Agricultural Biodiversity this past May. Saladino specialises in food and agriculture journalism. Over the past decade, he…
Foodthink Says Another 618 Shopping Festival is upon us. After the thrill of endless buying and unboxing, have you ever stopped to think about where all that plastic packaging we so casually sweep out the door actually ends up? “Eating well” is not just about nourishing ourselves; it is also…
