I wonder whether many of you share my habit: when aimlessly selecting an ear of corn, a bag of rice, or a lychee from the chilled aisle of a supermarket, we scarcely give a thought to where it came from—the very soil that nurtured it. It’s as though provisions simply…
Early October saw record-breaking rainfall across multiple northern regions. Amid citizens’ bewildered exclamations of “How much longer will this go on?” and “Have we really become the south?”, and as farmers stood helpless before crops drowning in sludge, we marked the 36th International Day for Disaster Reduction. Established by the…
I. A thousand theories pale before a single deed Sometimes, an unassuming turning point sows the seed for profound change. Take the winter of 2007, for instance. I travelled to the Northeast with Gao Tian, a volunteer photographer, to shoot a portfolio of works by disabled artists. Early one morning,…
At first light, Yang Ge’s drone had already been working in the rice fields for some time. As a drone pilot, he holds the “life-and-death power” over some 2,000 mu of crops. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat that leaves only his eyes visible, he operates a remote control that records flight…
A Word from Foodthink Today marks the first day of the National Day holiday. I wonder if you’ve already hit the road? Recently, Foodthink’s “Eat Well” initiative invited readers to share their home fermentation methods and experiences. We’ve summarised three secret tips and identified one category that is particularly prone…
More than a year ago, I first encountered the concept of “climate-friendly rice farming” at a discussion on community-based agricultural practices addressing climate change. Last month, I travelled with fellow farmers from Panzhihua in Sichuan, Wuhu in Anhui, and Fuyuan in Heilongjiang to project sites in Kunming, Pu’er and Honghe.…
Would you spend tens of yuan in a restaurant on a portion of frozen broccoli that might well be older than your child? — We’ve recently learned that this seemingly absurd scenario might actually be the case. Pre-prepared meals are quietly taking over our dining tables. From restaurants to takeaways,…
I. Typhoon shifts south; force 12 winds lay siege to farming communities “With this typhoon, farming communities have suffered most.” In the early hours of the 25th, Hao Nan, a humanitarian disaster relief specialist and director of Zhuominxinyuan, sent a voice message to the Foodthink editorial team, speaking with earnest…
Recently, Cai Guo-Qiang and Arc’teryx sparked controversy with a “mountain-blasting” art project in the Himalayas that damaged the fragile plateau ecosystem. The relationship between humanity and nature, alongside the exploration of local culture, were featured prominently in the promotional material for the fireworks display. Yet a performance that markets nature…
Foodthink Says From yellow wine and fermented black beans to pickled vegetables and soy sauce, people have long turned to the tangy, aromatic, and mellow depths of fermentation to find the warmth of home and the resilience of life. Across the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, fermentation is woven even more tightly into…
