Family food culture, local food memories, workers’ table stories, and personal relationships with food.
Epigraph As a generation born after the 1990s, we rode the waves of marketisation and commercialisation, experiencing the vibrant, dazzling world they ushered in. Unlike our parents’ generation, who were mostly born to farm and did nearly everything by hand, we outsourced the bulk of our daily clothing, necessities, and…
I am someone who succumbed to pressure; I couldn’t keep playing this game of racing between skyscrapers. Now, I write my story in the hope that as a “failed player” still in flight, I can identify from those past “failures” the things that truly made me feel lonely and depressed,…
Foodthink says “In search of childhood flavours” has become a popular theme over the past two years. This article’s protagonist, the ‘White Rabbit Child’ melon, embodies the “childhood sweetness” widely preserved in the memories of Guanzhong’s people. This heritage variety has been cultivated since the collective economy era, with farmers…
Foodthink’s Take In the previous edition of our “Eat Well” column, dozens of Foodthink readers shared their “moments they wanted to avoid takeout”. Many expressed their frustration; although there are times they are tired of takeout, the frantic pace of work, a lack of culinary skill, or poor kitchen facilities…
Editor’s Note Few culinary traditions are as strictly bound by religion and woven into the fabric of ethnic life as Halal. After spending time with Muslim friends from northwest China, I realised that once they leave predominantly Muslim regions to work in the south, their options for affordable Halal dining…
I. The Australian Egg Shortage The first time I realised I could no longer afford eggs. For the New Year that had just passed, my family and I rented an Airbnb in Sydney, Australia, to ring in the celebrations. Being strangers to the area, we stuck to buying groceries from…
The world’s table begins with China’s little pulses 10 February 2025 marks the seventh World Pulses Day. This year’s theme is ‘Pulses: Bringing Diversity to Agrifood Systems’. Grow pulses, eat pulses, diversify agriculture, live healthily. Soybeans, edamame and black beans are common fixtures on the dinner table, yet these pulses…
In this episode, *Food Talk* host Tianle joins Sijia from *100 Lives* for a special crossover conversation. This is also the first time Tianle shares on a podcast her journey from a journalist with a degree in international journalism to a social impact advocate working with agriculture and food, alongside…
I. Weather-Dependent Small Farmers and Mothers Seeking to Escape the Motherhood Penalty Affected by climate conditions, the survival rate for seedlings planted in late summer this year was remarkably low. Consequently, Hu Xuemei’s farm on the outskirts of Chengdu could not supply any vegetables for delivery over the past few…
I. The Ennobling Bean Porridge In a previous article, I mentioned coarse wheat grain, and this time I shall turn to bean soup. These two everyday dishes are steeped in significance; preparing them properly requires a well-ordered kitchen, a tended hearth, and a serious approach. In the Tang dynasty, Yan…
