How do you tell if your fruit and vegetables are any good? Judging them purely by how neat and uniform they look? Yet why do all those irregular, “ugly” fruits and vegetables vanish the moment they reach the shelves? It isn’t a genetic mutation; it’s market selection. If consumers judge…
Foodthink Author Kouzi Farmer, avid long-distance walker, and village liquor brewer. Full-time foodie, part-time farmer, amateur writer. Some will surely glance at the title and immediately protest: isn’t the saying that you ‘gain a few pounds over the New Year’? How could you possibly lose weight and…
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.…
Foodthink Author Kouzi Endurance walker and farmer, village brewer. Full-time food lover, part-time farmer, amateur writer. Regular readers will likely have noticed by now: I don’t stir-fry. Yes, Evildoers’ Valley doesn’t even own a wok. Admittedly, my one-square-metre kitchen is fully equipped with appliances — a saucepan,…
Grandpa was the fourth child in his family. Born in 1933, he lost his mother in early childhood and his father in his youth, weathering famine and disaster. He was always a farmer, though he also worked at one stage as a cotton carder. In his final years, he dreamed…
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…
In this episode, we’ll take you into the fascinating world of fermented foods—cheese—and introduce the story of Liu Yang, founder of Bleu Cheese, a master cheese artisan from China. Originally from Beijing and trained in IT, Liu Yang stumbled upon milk churning and cheesemaking while studying in France. This “incredibly…
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,…
Have you ever tried sourdough? Commercial sourdough typically relies on isolated, high-purity yeast strains. This approach speeds up production and delivers a more consistent loaf, but it comes at the expense of the distinctive flavour, texture and mouthfeel that traditional mixed cultures offer. In truth, wild yeast is everywhere in…










