“Technology and ‘Hardcore Tricks’” in Food—What’s It Really For?

In 2022, the phrase “Technology and ‘Hardcore Tricks’” went viral. Through the exaggerated antics of social media influencers, everyday consumers once again turned their attention to the additives lurking in their daily food—not the outright harmful illegal additives like “Sudan Red” or plasticisers, but those that are “legal, but unnecessary.”

In this episode, two hosts from Foodthink invite guest Sun Lin to join us in a conversation about this topic.

Soy sauce can be made without a single soya bean, and the simplest white toast may contain over a dozen additives… Artificial substances used for preservation, seasoning, colour, aroma, and texture enhancement work together to “simulate” the appearance of natural food.

Yet long before the food industry existed, people could achieve similar effects through cooking, fermentation, and other traditional methods. After the first grain of MSG (monosodium glutamate) came into being, those long, labour- and ingredient-intensive natural processes—such as fermentation and slow-simmered stock-making—suddenly had a simpler, cheaper alternative.

Is replacing patience with concentration, soothing the enormous pressures of daily life with bold, heavy flavours, truly the inevitable destination of a society that has developed at breakneck speed for nearly a century? And do we truly understand the cost of such substitution?

And for each of us struggling to pause in this relentless pace of life, might a brief moment spent reading the ingredient list on a food package be an opportunity to break free from the social clock and rediscover ourselves? Perhaps this episode will bring you insights you have never considered before.

This Episode’s Guest

Sun Lin

Researcher of traditional food culture and organic food, food critic, food columnist, senior consultant to organic food producers and food service businesses, and founder of the “Zen Kitchen” public platform. Through writing, talks, interactive salons, and food design, he shares his research findings and inspires others, helping organic growers, organic restaurant owners and chefs, organic food processors, and consumers with product evaluations and adjustment plans, cultural inspiration, culinary insights, and unique creative ideas, enabling them to bring more of their own brilliance and the beauty of natural food into their respective roles.

This Episode’s Hosts

Wan Lin

A member of Foodthink. She rarely eats out, often cooks at home, and avoids takeout as much as possible. Raised on her mother’s cooking, she now has 15 years’ experience in her own kitchen. She loves exploring “how to make food taste better” and “how to make cooking easier.”

Xiao Jing

Producer of Food Talk. A former business journalist who has interviewed Michelin-starred chefs, she now hopes to return to the source of food and see the world more holistically. One change in recent years: she carefully reads ingredient labels when buying food.

Timeline

03:02 What exactly are food additives? Illegal additives and the increasingly scrutinised “legal, but unnecessary” additives. 06:39 Why do foods actually need additives? When sweetness, umami, colour, and texture can all be simulated with additives, everything seems to become cheap and convenient. 07:58 Soy sauce blended entirely from additives contains not a single soya bean; ordinary supermarket white toast cannot be made without over a dozen additives: technology and ‘hardcore tricks’ born of mass demand in an industrialised society.

19:26 The butterfly effect of food additives: MSG, invented in Japan, spread into recipes during China’s Republican era—one spoonful could replicate the umami of a whole pot of slow-simmered stock, leaving labour-intensive seasoning seeming lacklustre.

22:09 In recent decades, why has bold, spicy heat become a nationwide obsession?

27:00 A conversation about sugar substitutes: a technology developed for people with specific dietary needs—once it enters mainstream diets, could it pose health risks?

32:26 Legal additives themselves may pose little harm, but the unregulated overuse of food additives could be a serious problem.

37:22 Behind bold flavours lies both an individual’s search for stress relief and a reflection of society’s relentless pace.

44:19 On a finite planet with finite resources, as the population swells—can we only “add”?

50:09 In daily life, take another look at the ingredient list, and let your “food IQ” grow with experience.

56:42 The mainstream social clock imposes an average way of life, overlooking the differences between individuals. Find your own rhythm, and start “rediscovering yourself” at the dining table.