Join Us

Join Foodthink, Know Your Food!

Do we really know the food we put into our bodies every day?

Or perhaps, do we need to know our food and the people who produce it?

For more and more people, the answer to these questions is yes.

More than a decade ago, a new kind of consumer began to emerge in China. They were no longer content to buy “mystery” food from ordinary markets and supermarkets: where had it come from, who had produced it, how many pesticides, chemical fertilisers, hormones and antibiotics had been used in the process, and could it be harmful to their health? There was simply no way to get answers to any of these questions.

So they began seeking out local farmers and buying vegetables and meat directly from them. Some even rolled up their sleeves and became farmers themselves, growing grain and vegetables without pesticides, chemical fertilisers or herbicides for themselves and the people around them.

At the same time, many farmers have found that although chemical fertilisers, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics can increase yields and reduce the workload, their income and quality of life have not improved as a result:

• You have no control over pricing, and year after year a bumper harvest only drives prices down and leaves farmers worse off;
  
• You have no control over the use or pricing of inputs such as seeds, pesticides, fertiliser, seedlings, feed and veterinary medicines, and the cost of farming keeps rising;
  
• The health damage caused by chemical use is becoming increasingly apparent;
  
• You do not even feel safe eating what you grow or raise yourself, and if you do not keep enough back for your own use, you end up having to buy it elsewhere;
  
• The supply chain is too long, so products can only be sold to middlemen or distributors. Even if you have a high-quality product, you still cannot sell it directly to consumers at the price it deserves.

These questions led some farmers to ask themselves: is there a model of agriculture that would truly allow farmers to take control of production, sales and pricing, enabling them to earn a fair return for their work by producing healthy, high-quality food, while ensuring that both they and consumers can enjoy wholesome, delicious food?

As a result, some farmers began combining science and technology with local traditional knowledge, using ecological methods instead of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, herbicides, hormones and antibiotics. Through farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), home delivery, online shops and other channels, they set their own prices and sold their vegetables directly to consumers.

When farmers like these join forces with consumers who share their values, a new model for food production and distribution begins to emerge. And as consumers come into closer contact with farmers, both sides gain a deeper understanding of agriculture and food. Together, they come to realise that eating is far more than a private matter, a simple act of satisfying one’s appetite, or an isolated act of consumption.

Eating can be about the environment: did producing the food I eat pollute the environment, and did transporting it over long distances generate additional carbon emissions? It can also be about social relations: is the process by which food is traded fair, are producers being exploited and squeezed, and are consumers being deceived? In other words, behind what we eat lies our relationship with nature, and our relationship with one another.

Seen from this perspective, food becomes a lens through which we can recognise issues such as environmental protection, rural development, international trade, social justice, public health, cultural heritage, sustainable development and climate change. And the meals we eat each day can also reflect our values and what we stand for.

That is why we want Shitongshe to be a place where perspectives, practices, experience, knowledge, information and ideas about food can meet and be exchanged; where producers, consumers, researchers and policymakers can write and learn; and where, together, we can explore and put into practice a food system that is fair, healthy and delicious.

Join Foodthink to learn more about the food we eat, eat well, and live thoughtfully.

At the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market, shoppers and farmers share watermelons grown by Cheng Pengfei of Yidunqing (bottom left). The attitude Foodthink admires is this: be one of the “melon-eating crowd” — but know exactly what’s what!

Foodthink is looking for writers

If you’d like to write for Foodthink, we’d love to hear from you. Whichever of the following categories you fall into, if you have the ability to write and a passion for sharing, please leave us a message and get in touch.

1 Farmers with a wealth of experience, ideas, lessons learnt and questions they would like to share with more fellow farmers;

2 Scholars who want more people to understand and benefit from their academic research;

3 Media professionals with a long-standing interest in agriculture and food issues;

4 Professionals working in the agriculture and food sectors;

5 Professionals working in NGOs or government departments in areas such as rural development and environmental protection;

6 Consumers who want, or already have, greater control over the food they eat, or foodies who really know their stuff.