A Day Selling Vegetables Gave Us a Richer Understanding of “Farm-to-Table” | Food Talk Vol. 29
In Beijing’s Sanyuanqiao neighbourhood, there is an extraordinary community greengrocer—all its fruit and vegetables are delivered straight to the shop by local ecological smallholder farmers. Every single vegetable is named and traceable, grown without pesticides or chemical fertilisers, and following strict production standards. The shop, called Ji Shi, is run by the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market, and their farmer partners frequently appear in Foodthink’s coverage. Last year, we sat down with Ji Shi’s manager and designer to talk about the story behind this greengrocer: When Design Meets Food: A Decade of Renewal at a Beijing Community Greengrocer | Food Talk Vol. 20
As a standing tradition and a kind of induction training, the Foodthink team spends one day each year selling at Ji Shi—affectionately dubbed “Occupy Ji Shi”. In truth, the idea is to spend a day of hands-on labour, using our own bodies to understand and experience how the last mile of a fair, sustainable food system actually works.
This year’s selling crew includes a former international news reporter pulled behind the counter after just one week on the job, and a new colleague who spent six years studying agriculture before earning a master’s degree in agroecology from Wageningen University. Going from ordinary consumers to shop assistants at a principled greengrocer overnight, they made plenty of surprising discoveries.
For instance: the shop’s produce comes from different smallholder farmers, offering a wide variety of cabbages to suit every individual preference. The farmers not only recognise their own vegetables, but step up to share the best way to cook them and showcase the fruits of their hard work. This makes you appreciate the knowledge, skill, labour and other inputs woven into food—and in turn, truly understand its value. “If I only eat two tomatoes a day, why pick two from a hundred identical ones when every single tomato the farmer grows is different?”
In this episode, two new colleagues and two veteran colleagues who like to think they’ve got plenty of selling experience sit down for a conversation.
After a day behind the counter, the team began to question our taken-for-granted assumptions about speed and “efficiency”. It made us reflect: are we merely predictable providers of labour or receivers of services—or complex, feeling human beings? In the bustle of urban life, do young people still go and buy their own vegetables in person? And abroad, have supermarkets like Whole Foods, which tout health and sustainability, become an emerging, gentrified lifestyle? Is this just another form of “conspicuous consumption”?
This Episode’s Guests
Zen
A veteran “newbie”—this is their second “Occupy Ji Shi”, though the basic shop skills have long since been forgotten; an amateur consumer of farmers’ markets.
Tianle
Founding editor of Foodthink. On paper, they were also part of Ji Shi’s original founding team, having worked there years ago. But they quickly discovered that an atheist is no match for customer service, and stepped back to the bench in good order. This Chinese New Year’s Eve, though, they’ll be back behind the counter at Ji Shi with their old partner—listeners are welcome to drop by and say hello!
Wang Hao
Editor at Foodthink. Depending on who they’re eating with, they call themselves a northerner among southerners and a southerner among northerners—but they’re actually a Beijinger.
Ning Chen
Foodthink’s newest recruit; a southerner with northern roots who never tires of aubergines and broccoli, and counterbalances the eating with hiking and yoga. Their New Year wish? Embracing uncertainty—missing the bus is perfectly fine.
Xiao Qi
Project Officer at Foodthink; an agriculture student eager to reconnect with the land.
This Episode’s Hosts
Xiao Jing
A podcast producer who loves heading to the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market for soy milk and pancakes—and for the oddly shaped vegetables. Next year when the team takes over Ji Shi, she plans to make baked pizzas.
Timeline
03:59 Even a colleague with a degree in agriculture finds actually selling vegetables a wonderfully fresh experience
05:15 Ji Shi in Beijing’s Sanyuanqiao: an extraordinary community greengrocer—all the fruit and vegetables on the shelves are delivered straight to the shop by local ecological smallholder farmers; every single vegetable is named and traceable, grown without pesticides or chemical fertilisers, and produced to a stricter set of standards of its own.
06:22 The editorial team takes a shift: diverse produce, all sourced from smallholders—even cabbages come in many varieties from different farms. Customers who want something bespoke can find their particular “cream of the crop”, not standardised, mass-market goods.
09:02 Smallholder farmers can recognise their own produce and even step forward to invite everyone to enjoy their hard-grown Shawo radish at its finest. Once you truly appreciate the wealth of knowledge, skill, labour and other inputs packed into food that is both wholesome and delicious, you begin to understand the price.
13:35 What mix-ups did the editors who took a shift last year cause? Cue the clip!
14:06 This extraordinary ecological greengrocer grew out of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market and has close ties with the Foodthink editorial team, also incubated by the market—that’s how the story of “Occupy Ji Shi” came about: editors shouldn’t just sit in the office making appeals; they should step out and see the last mile of ecological produce for themselves
18:02 After a day as shop assistants, we begin to question our taken-for-granted assumptions about speed and efficiency: work messages that demand a reply within seconds, takeaways expected within thirty minutes—what do they really mean? Are we to become predictable providers of labour or receivers of services, or complex, feeling human beings? In the bustle of urban life, do young people still go out to buy vegetables in person? And abroad, have supermarkets like Whole Foods Market, which tout health and sustainability, become an emerging, gentrified lifestyle? Is this just another form of “conspicuous consumption”? Or are we still diverse, emotional human beings?
24:19 Do young people still physically go out to buy their own vegetables?
25:01 After selling produce and working a day behind the counter, has the editorial team gained a new perspective on buying groceries?
29:08 Abroad, shopping at places that tout health and sustainability, like Whole Foods Market, seems to have become an emerging, gentrified lifestyle—is that a good thing, or just another form of “conspicuous consumption”?
31:59 Is the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market and Ji Shi planning to “grow bigger and stronger” like Whole Foods Market?
36:50 “If I only eat two tomatoes a day, why pick two from a hundred identical ones when every single tomato the farmer grows is different?”
37:45 As people increasingly care about public issues—gender, climate, class entrenchment, marginalised groups—what makes food and ecology issues special?
39:18 In the new year, what do you want to eat, and what do you want to do?
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This Episode’s Production Team
Co-ordination and production: Xiao Jing
Cover art: Wan Lin
Music: Ba Nong
Editing: Wang Hao, Tianle
Contact email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn