Good Looks Don’t Guarantee Great Taste: How to Find “Good Food” Beyond the Surface | Food Talk Vol. 30
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 food solely by its appearance, an endless array of artificial additives and processing tricks will emerge to cater to that demand.
Relying on the labels on the packaging? Terms like “green”, “organic”, and “high-altitude produce” are popping up everywhere, yet many smallholders who truly grow high-quality food are left out of the picture.
In this episode, we head to Pingren Farm in Changping, Beijing, to explore what “good food” really means to people. We hear from Zhou Chen, a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam researching food; Zhao Fei, a father-turned-farmer; and Li Jie, a home cook with a real knack for the kitchen. Drawing on their experiences, our guests show us that by looking at the land, understanding how our food is grown, and engaging all our senses to judge it, we can get closer to what truly makes food “good”.
Much like people, food comes in its own unique variety. The different shapes of imperfect vegetables each tell a story of their distinct growing conditions. Just as none of us wants to be a mere cog in the machine, forever mimicking a perfect template, the world on our plates deserves the same tolerance from consumers.
Towards the end of the episode, our guests also share a few simple, delicious recipes: roasted pumpkin, baby tomatoes with blue cheese and sprouts, silky eggs stir-fried with spinach and peanuts, and four-colour sweet potatoes. Tune in to this episode of *Food Talk* to explore the stories behind our food and become a more discerning consumer.
This/Episode’s/Guests
Zhou Chen
PhD candidate researching rural life and ecological food. Food is a conduit for the imagination: it leads me underground to meet voles, and draws me into my own body, where I picture every bite of food mingling with tiny microbes to form a shared “me”.
Zhao Fei
Organic growing technician at Pingren Farm, Beijing
Li Jie
Li Jie, a food enthusiast who has been cooking at home for years
This/Episode’s/Host
Xiao Jing
Podcast producer who loves visiting Beijing’s organic farmers’ markets for soy milk and jianbing, and buying oddly shaped vegetables.
Timestamps
07:56 There’s a film called 《Taste of Cherry》 in which the protagonist intends to end his life, only to be stayed by the sweet flavour of a cherry. Can food truly be so delicious it leaves you amazed?
09:58 Accustomed to the uniform fruit and vegetables in supermarkets, you might find what grows on farms to be rather ‘ugly’ produce. In reality, though, these items aren’t inherently flawed.
11:11 Who is chasing after perfectly presentable vegetables? If we judge cucumbers merely on standards like ‘straightness’ or ‘having a flower on top’, the market will be flooded with countless artificial additives and industrial shortcuts to cater to that demand.
16:18 The tastiest tomatoes tend to have thin, delicate skins that tear easily – can you live with that? If we are more forgiving of how food looks and learn a bit more about its other qualities, we might find ourselves closer to what truly constitutes ‘good’ fruit and veg.
28:58 What do supermarket labels like ‘green’, ‘organic’, and ‘high-altitude grown’ actually signify? Why don’t products from ecological smallholder farms carry these labels?
29:57 Beyond appearance and flavour, what unique qualities can our five senses reveal about food? Your eyes, nose, and hands are all tools for understanding what you eat.
30:35 Voting with your purchases: How do our consumer choices demonstrate support for a better, more sustainable world?
33:54 What causes differences in food flavour? Why eat fresh and in season? The operations manager at an organic farm shares insights from personal experience.
40:11 A reflection on eating for workers: In a fast-paced, high-pressure city, is insisting on ‘savouring good food’ a luxury? ‘Eating well’ can be a form of everyday resistance.
46:55 Select better ingredients and keep the cooking simple – a showcase of easy, tasty recipes! Roasted pumpkin, cherry tomatoes with blue cheese and microgreens, peanuts and spinach with soft-scrambled eggs, or four-colour sweet potato. Which dish tempts you?
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Production Team for This Episode
Co-ordination & Production: Xiao Jing
Cover Art: Wan Lin
Music: Ba Nong
Editing: Wang Hao
Contact Email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn