“Back from Beijing to the Mountains, I Finally Feel Like a Real Person”

This episode of Food Talk is a casual conversation recorded at Jishi, the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market’s offline shop at Sanyuanqiao. We’ve invited two old friends along: Kangli and Jinpeng. One is a Yi woman from Chuxiong, Yunnan, who put herself through school on the strength of the mountain’s mushrooms and matsutake. The other is a “wild food” practitioner in the Greater Khingan Mountains of the Northeast who left the city for the forest and has supported himself through mountain foraging for over a decade.

In this episode, two mountain foragers—one from the south, one from the north—talk about the real labour behind wild mountain produce, their close bonds with elders in mountain villages, and the challenges and hopes facing farming under climate change. What sounds like a rather “primitive” way of life actually touches on issues modern society can’t avoid: trust, income, labour, pricing logic, and the question of “what do we really eat for?”

This is a candid, unscripted conversation and a collection of stories about “how to make a living from the mountains.”

Tune in to this episode and step into their daily life in the wilds. This is also the first instalment in a series of conversations marking the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. More exciting talks to come—stay tuned.

This Episode’s Guests

Jinpeng

Currently lives and works in the forest town of Huyuan in the Greater Khingan district. He has been working with local foragers to harvest wild ingredients for 15 years. He loves forest life, enjoys venturing into the woods to pick all kinds of delicious food, and likes to observe and record the life of this clean little town in the north.

Kangli

A Yi woman born in 1992. After finishing senior high school, she took part in rural reconstruction work in Kunming and Beijing. In late 2015 she decided to spend her life rooted in the countryside, returning to Chuxiong, Yunnan, to start a business. She set up two platforms, “Kangli Tuhuo” and “Kexin Jiayuan”, selling produce to support sustainable local harvesting and cultural heritage.

This Episode’s Host

Tianle

Convenor of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market and founding editor of Foodthink.

Timeline

01:05 Reminiscing about how they met: 15 years ago, the very first stallholders at the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market

02:48 Why go back to the mountains? Two young people’s choice to return to the countryside

04:04 What is “mountain foraging”? The story behind matsutake, wild mushrooms, and wild mountain produce

14:26 Do local people prefer wild mountain produce too?

19:09 How do you price wild mountain produce? Not by following market prices, but by guaranteeing a basic income for the foragers

24:51 “This isn’t profiteering”—when customers say you’re charging too much

27:10 The reality of mountain villages: a Yunnan village shrinking from 100 households to 80, a small Northeast town down to 2,000 people—who is still working?

33:59 Can you feel climate change while mountain foraging?

37:25 Mountains claimed by “bosses”: the plight of free foraging

40:15 After coming back from foraging, you’ve only done 1/3 of the work

56:46 Can you encounter a bear while foraging? Wild ≠ easy: the risks, the hard work, and the know-how of picking in the mountains

61:07 Is mountain foraging a sunset industry? Perhaps the freedom of the heart is the reason to hold on

Kangli lives deep in the mountains of Yunnan. The pristine environment is ideal for wild termite mushrooms. The path to picking them is scenic: a great mountain rises behind, and the Jinsha River flows below.

Jinpeng, who has been foraging in the Greater Khingan Mountains for 15 years.

The beautiful Greater Khingan Mountains: rich in resources, far from pollution, with forest coverage exceeding 80%. Wild-harvested products grow in their natural environment, untouched by human intervention or management.

Wild wood ear mushroom growing on a birch tree.

Various mushrooms, Chinese skullcap, rose petals, and rose hips drying naturally in the sun.

Mountain foraging seems to offer more than just natural foods from the primeval forest—the forest’s atmosphere, its energy, and the joy and ease found in the local foragers’ work.

Related Reading ▼

Matsutake and Thirty Years Across Three Generations of a Yi Family

From the Greater Khingan Mountains to the Yi Highlands: A Dialogue Between Northern and Southern Foragers | Event Preview

Not All Mushrooms Are ‘Jūnzi’ | A Mushroom Hunt in Yunnan’s Markets

A Supply Chain as ‘Wild’ as the Mushrooms Themselves Is Destroying Wild Mushroom Habitats

In Shangri-La, We Went Up the Mountain and Had Two Meals with Our Lisu Neighbours

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All images provided by this episode’s guests

Music: Banong

Production: Xiaojing

This episode’s planning: Wenjing

This episode’s editor: Tianle

Contact email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn

“Back from Beijing to the Mountains, I Finally Feel Like a Real Person” | Food Talk Vol.51

This Episode’s Guests

This Episode’s Host

Timeline

Published by Foodthink