Family food culture, local food memories, workers’ table stories, and personal relationships with food.
In Yunnan, the annual mushroom season invariably sparks a collective frenzy with a distinctly ‘poisonous’ edge (and yes, we mean the actual toxicity of wild mushrooms). In recent years, as these fungi have crossed provincial borders and captured the wider public’s attention, the market has been shaken up each year…
In Russian, summer is also known as “dacha season”. Maxim Gorky wrote a short play that was translated into Chinese as *The Summer Visitors*; its original Russian title, *Dachniki*, is more literally rendered as “Dacha Dwellers”—in 1995, the same story was adapted into a film titled *Summer People*. The dacha…
I. Loess Plateau Cuisine That Shaped My Childhood Born in the 1980s, I grew up in the mountainous folds of the Loess Plateau. I have always loved the hills, the vast plateau, and the wild freedom of roaming through slopes awash with wildflowers. My hometown lies where the borders of…
A Note from Foodthink Our memories of our mothers often seem intertwined with food and care. Perhaps she was a gifted cook, remembering every family member’s likes and dislikes, and soothing us with nourishing meals. Perhaps she wasn’t much of a cook, yet she consistently threw herself into household chores,…
In recent years, more and more people have turned to specialty coffee. It is genuinely fascinating, is it not? Some cups taste of chocolate, others bring to mind the bright pop of crackling candy, and still others carry the aroma of black tea. Then again, coffee can occasionally leave you…
“People never enjoy fermented drinks alone.” — *Undercooked: A History of Fermentation and Civilization* I. Meeting It was early summer in Beijing, 2020, during the initial phase of pandemic restrictions; everything still seemed manageable. The chaos of the new year and the hardship unfolding overseas had gradually receded into the…
I. I. First Snow It was the eleventh lunar month. A light first snow dusted the town, accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature that caught even the weather forecasters off guard. We had only just emerged from a temporary lockdown a week earlier. Though local shops and courier services…
Those stifled by the pandemic are longing to reconnect with nature. Around urban areas, picnics, camping, and nature education are becoming increasingly popular. Yet, in a world of rapid change, what do “the countryside” and “nature” actually signify for contemporary Chinese families and children? Is this merely a passing trend,…
I. I. Mother’s Hearth Heading northwest from Lijiang Old Town past Lashi Lake, the distant peaks of the Yulong and Haba mountains gleam silver-white, our journey threading through the high river valleys alongside the Jinsha River. Mid-October marks the transition between autumn harvest and winter planting. Though the land along…
