How to Find Safe Produce? Two Mothers’ 10 Years of Experience | Food Talk Vol. 49

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In the first decade of the 2000s, repeated food safety scandals prompted a growing number of Chinese consumers to seek out better farming practices and produce. Across the country, a new generation of farmers began pioneering organic agriculture.

One such pioneer is this episode’s guest, Cao Xiaohong. In 2008, concerned about her child’s health, she began searching for cleaner produce. When she first started ordering from the organic platform ‘Wotuo Gongfang’, there were no mini-program checkout systems, no WeChat groups, and courier services were barely functional. Purchases were made via email and paid for in cash. While the organic movement was taking off in major cities, Cao was living in a small town in Hunan. She steadily built a local group-buying network, coordinating with farmers across the country and guiding fellow mothers to ‘follow along’ with their orders. To this day, she remains a highly active figure in consumer communities.

The other guest, Xiao Yunsheng from the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market, shares his own journey from shopper to stallholder. Drawing on over a decade of selling produce at farmers’ markets, he reflects on the shifts and challenges he has faced, and on how he and fellow growers across the country work together to keep putting reliable, wholesome food on our tables.

Looking back, it was consumers who cared deeply about food, had the vision to back it, and the drive and organisational skills to bring people together. They shifted public understanding of farming and produce, bridging the gap between growers and eaters. Now that live-streaming sales and third-party couriers have become the norm, can we recreate the kind of mutual trust that defined those early days?

Xiaohong also opens up about the philosophy behind her approach to food: how to cultivate a calm, unanxious relationship with eating; what to look for when choosing vegetables at the market; and her enviable vision of an ideal life—working alongside her parents on the land, and living in close connection with food and nature. If you find yourself worrying about what to feed your family, or simply want to eat with more peace of mind, you’ll want to tune in.

This Episode’s Guests

Cao Xiaohong

Born in Chenzhou, Hunan, Cao grew up in the mountains. Farming runs deep in her family history, with generations listed as growers in the family genealogy until her own generation settled in the city. A teacher by profession, she began buying organic produce through ‘Wotuo Gongfang’ in 2008 after becoming a mother, embarking on a deeper exploration of our relationship with food, the land, and nature.

 

 

 

Xiao Yunsheng

A former journalist and amateur farmer, Xiao has spent a decade selling produce at the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market.

 

 

 

 

Host

Wang Hao

An editor at Foodthink, Wang Hao also became a consumer of ecological produce after the pandemic.

 

 

 

 

 

Episode Timeline

00:45 Entering the organic community: Back in 2008, without WeChat, everything ran on email and trust.

05:56 Why did a girl who ‘escaped’ rural life need to reconnect with the land as an adult?

17:01 The rise of the ‘mums’ buying group’: How buying groceries together built lasting friendships. The organiser takes the lead, members follow suit—ecological farmers across the country helping to put food on the tables of a community of mothers.

20:46 Lessons from the parents’ patch: One ear of corn, five little bugs—could you get on board?

23:43 From ‘hardcore organic’ to ‘laid-back shopping’: As children grow, life’s pace shifts, and food choices lose their frantic edge.

25:24 Going local, market visits as a practice: How to spot vegetables grown by local grandmothers?

37:52 In the era of live-streaming and express couriers, why hasn’t consumer trust actually grown?

48:42 Returning to life’s natural rhythm: three meals a day across the seasons, hands-on work and mindful living.

At a Waldorf school, Xiaohong plants peanuts and transplants rice seedlings alongside the children. Education was, in fact, the initial catalyst that inspired her to take an active interest in food and agriculture.

A glimpse into Xiaohong’s natural, village-based daily life. When her father’s rural harvest yields a surplus, they roll up their sleeves to preserve it together: in spring, when the ducks are laying abundantly, they cure salted duck eggs; they gather the small yellow flowers from the tender, bright green wild herbs sprouting in the vegetable patch to make glutinous rice cakes; they also brew young plum syrup and sun-dry sweet potato strips.
Cao Xiaohong shares her experiences at the Guangdong Harvest Festival.

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Unless otherwise stated, all images are provided by the guests.

Music: Banong

Production: Xiaojing

Editor: Wang Hao

Contact email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn

Published by Foodthink