Platform economies, food delivery workers, and urban consumption behavior.
The proliferation of plastic is a byproduct of the petrochemical industry seeking outlets for post-war capacity, not a carefully considered decision. In Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, Susan Freinkel argues that the problem lies not with the material, but with the relationship between people and plastic.
During those years of insurance back-office work in Shenzhen, Miantuan Jingjing’s table shifted from plastic takeout containers to an electric steamer and a bowl of chicken soup noodles — until her body pressed the resignation button for her.
Riders’ monthly cost: RMB 525 versus 1,500; pension benefits could differ by more than thirty times. Meituan’s “loss-making” claim crumbles under a close reading of its financial statements, while riders put it plainly: protection is not a luxury.
One-pot fried rice, claypot rice, pressure-cooker meals done in fifteen minutes, weekend braised meat portioned out for the week, workplace canteens, community canteens, little neighbourhood eateries, wet markets… Skip takeaway, and working people actually have plenty of ways to eat.
Foodthink marks Qingming by building a “cemetery” for five articles deleted from its WeChat Official Account — detailing, one by one, why and when each vanished, from a Bianlifeng algorithm battle to a farmer’s plastic mulch film dispute — and leaving keywords to help readers find the originals.
Meituan has funded environmental organisations dedicated to monitoring food-delivery plastic pollution, yet their critical voices have gradually faded. Two veteran environmental advocates compare this to the 2004 Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) case, noting that the balance of power between businesses and public-interest organisations has quietly reversed.
The National Health Commission has launched a three-year “Weight Management Year” initiative, yet modern obesity is a systemic issue shaped by food industry, takeaway and pseudo-health foods. Foodthink charts a scientific path from dietary structure through processed-food traps to natural dietary principles, beyond ‘dieting equals weight loss’ mindset.
Work vibe so heavy you can’t stomach a takeaway box; sweet soup 3–5 yuan dearer than dine-in; a rider’s hand slashed in the snow. Dozens of readers wrote down specific moments of pushing back against takeaway – from ready meals to plastic packaging, all pointing to a proper meal.
A cup of Americano squeezed to six yuan, a meat pancake to ten — traffic has become the platform’s weapon to force shops into loss-making price concessions. Pinhaofan’s cheapness is no technological innovation, but a cost borne jointly by shop owners and riders.
Renting an Airbnb in Sydney to ring in the New Year, a family found avian influenza pushing eggs to nearly four yuan each, Chinese noodles at eighty a bowl, and coffee nearly doubled. Only back in China did she realise how precious that home-cooked bowl was.
