Urban food life, consumption behavior, and food culture.
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…
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…
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…
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…
In this episode of Food Talk, we welcome Foodthink’s new colleague, Yuyang, as our special guest. He is not only a fresh addition to our team but also brings a unique background: he spent four months in 2021 working briefly as a food delivery rider. Though interested in the labour…
Editor’s Note In the previous column, Master Yiguo showed us how, from an urban setting, she uses a “small dining table” to serve friends in her neighbourhood meals that are both wholesome and delicious. Yet even more “hardcore” is the grower of the rice served at that very table: Chen…
Editor’s Note You are what you eat; dining well is never a trivial matter. The recent scandal involving edible oil transported in tanker trucks has once again reignited anxiety over food safety, while tracing the origins of what we consume remains fraught with difficulty. Along the lengthy chain from field…
6 July marks International Cooperative Day, with this year’s theme being “Cooperatives are building a better future for all.” Cooperatives form a global social movement. Since the founding of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in 1844, the movement has spanned 180 years, taking root and flourishing across the globe.…
Editor’s Note In Chengdu’s Yulin community, a surprise vegetable parcel from farming friend Hu Xuemei brought a little shock—and an unexpected shift—to Xia Lili, the cook at the Little Dining Table. This is the fourth piece in the “One Pot Shitai’s Little Dining Table” series. It will explore Xia Lili’s…
Editor’s Note In the opening piece of the “Master One Pot’s Little Dining Table” series, Xia Lili draws on a handful of personal recollections to explain her philosophy of shared meals and the origins of the project. This time, she brings us straight to the lively heart of the kitchen.…
