Urban food life, consumption behavior, and food culture.
In 2016, I had a few rather unsuccessful shopping trips to Sanyuanli Market. I only recently made my way back, drawn by the exhibition and the urge to check in, only to find it had long since settled on its new identity: an art scene. Seven years on, Sanyuanli has…
Foodthink Says This October, Foodthink partnered with dozens of co-organisers across the country—including farmers’ markets, ecological farms, fermentation artisans, restaurants, publishers, and non-profit organisations—to launch the ‘Fermentation Awakening Festival’. In November, we hosted four reading sessions centred on Sandor Katz’s *The Art of Fermentation*. The guest for the first session…
Foodthink Says While at the Harvest Celebration in Guangzhou, our editorial team will host a panel on pre-prepared meals and local produce at 10:30 on Sunday, 3 December. One of our guests, Doudou, is a kitchen enthusiast renowned for her homemade pre-prepared dishes. She shared her journey and a meticulous,…
I grew up in New York City and have loved pickles of all kinds since childhood. I never imagined that those delicious, crisp, garlic-infused pickles would one day set me on a path of discovery and exploration. In truth, alongside pickles, fermented foods such as bread, cheese, yoghurt, sour cream,…
You may have heard of homemade pickles, kimchi or kombucha, which seem to have become the latest craze among young people. In truth, you might never have considered that fermented foods are actually a staple in our kitchens. Whether it is soy sauce, vinegar, wine, cheese, miso or fermented bean…
Before starting my internship at Letian Bay Farm, I often pictured the customers here as a bunch of dedicated environmentalists. Otherwise, how could one explain why city dwellers would make the trek out to the countryside? In an age when everyone is rushing towards urban centres, going against the current…
Departing Xizhimen and passing through Nankou, the high-speed train crosses the high peaks of the Yanshan Mountains before reaching the Huailai Basin. Though less than an hour from Beijing, the landscape is entirely different: wide, flat plains, sprawling cornfields and vineyards, dotted with the massive towers of wind turbines. The…
Before winding eastwards into Beijing’s urban centre, the Yongding River traces a series of U-shaped bends through the hills. The villages of Longjiazhuang and Shuiyuzui lie on opposite banks, linked by a single road bridge. From 29 July to 2 August, extreme rainfall across the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region caused the Yongding…
“Whenever I travel to a new place, the first thing I do upon arrival is ask the locals where the market is.” In June, much as food writer Han Liangyi describes in *Wandering Through Markets Around the World*, I embarked on a market tour of Barcelona, Spain. Rather than the…
Key Takeaways The potential for profit has spawned professional anti-counterfeiting claimants. Following the introduction of punitive damages under the Food Safety Law—which raised compensation from three to ten times the purchase price—the formerly unprofitable food sector saw an influx of such professionals. While this has helped standardise food business operations,…
