Urban food life, consumption behavior, and food culture.
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.…
Foodthink Says As May arrives, Yunnan once again enters the season for foraging wild mushrooms in the hills. In recent years, wild vegetables and mushrooms have surged in popularity. Not only are pricey varieties now regularly stocked in supermarkets, greengrocers, and online grocery platforms, but “wild foraging” (the practice of…
A Word from Foodthink Today is International Day for Biological Diversity. This year’s theme is “Biodiversity: A Shared Endeavour” (Be part of the plan). For most people, the most direct way to get involved is simple—through what we eat. Through our diet, we can savour the wonders that biodiversity brings,…
Editor’s Note In a corner of Yulin, Chengdu, Xia Lili—affectionately nicknamed “Sister Yiguo” by her friends—has launched a new experiment: The Little Dining Table. This is a warm, collaborative dining initiative where neighbours team up as “meal partners” to shop and cook together, establish regular meal times, and enjoy wholesome…
The Spring Festival holiday has passed. What hometown flavours did you enjoy when you went back this year? In this episode of Food Talk, the Foodthink team gathers to share their culinary memories of the festivities. From Shaanxi to Hainan, and on to Harbin and Beijing, each region boasts its…
Foodthink Says As noted earlier, consumers are often too far removed from the production end, making it difficult to properly assess food quality and, consequently, to effectively protect their own interests. To address this challenge, practical applications of Participatory Guarantee Systems (henceforth referred to as PGS) have begun to take…
Near San Yuan Bridge in Beijing sits an unusual community greengrocer. Every fruit and vegetable arrives directly from local ecological smallholder farmers. Each item is individually identifiable, grown without pesticides or synthetic fertilisers, and adheres to rigorous production standards. The shop, named Jishi, is run by the Beijing Organic Farmers…
Over a year ago, the entire Foodthink team “took over” a community produce shop run by the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. For a single day, we handled every aspect of the shop’s operations, delivered impressive sales figures, won our “wager,” and successfully completed the first ever “Occupy the Shop” mission!…
A Note from Foodthink With the Spring Festival drawing near, who wouldn’t want to save time and effort when putting together a grand feast for the New Year’s Eve dinner? Riding this wave of convenience, an array of pre-prepared meals have once again topped search trends across online shopping platforms.…
