Foodthink says Foodthink has hosted several reading groups focused on fermentation. During the process of selecting books, we noticed something: while fermentation culture is booming among foodie circles abroad, why hasn’t it taken off in China? This is a sentiment shared by the publishing professionals featured in this article: China…
A Word from Foodthink Sour chillies are a traditional Chinese fermented delicacy, particularly popular in the south. While each region has its own unique flavour and slightly different supporting ingredients, the method and principles of fermentation remain largely the same: salt is used to create an ideal environment for lactic…
I’ve lived in Eren Valley for over two years now, and the annual cost of labour and farmyard manure for the fields is quite a substantial sum. The locals I hire often can’t resist doing the sums for me, pointing out that growing things this way is far more expensive…
The “Fermentation Awakening Life Festival”, co-hosted by Foodthink and the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market, opened its doors two weeks ago! Episodes on kombucha, mozzarella, and ricotta from “The Alchemy of Food” video series have been released in succession, while the “Art of Fermentation” book club has just concluded its second…
In this episode of Food Talk, we are joined by two guests with academic backgrounds in fermentation engineering, Mary and Liu Xinzheng, to discuss how their passion for home-brewing led them down the path of fermentation. While studying fermentation engineering at university, their shared love for beer—and a feeling that…
Foodthink Says Cheese is a profoundly traditional fermented food. Before the Industrial Revolution enabled mass production, the vast majority of cheese was handmade by farmers and small-scale producers. The flavour of the cheese was intimately tied to the season, the climate, and the methods used for producing the raw milk,…
I grew up in New York City, and from a young age, I loved all kinds of pickles. Little did I imagine that those delicious, crunchy, garlicky pickles would one day lead me on a journey of discovery and exploration. In truth, besides pickles, fermented products such as bread, cheese,…
Foodthink says During the Targeted Poverty Alleviation campaign, in an effort to rapidly increase farmers’ incomes, the government of Gong County (a pseudonym) introduced greenhouse vegetables—known for their superior market profitability—and implemented subsidy policies to integrate them into the farmers’ livelihood systems. Given that the government provided greenhouses, seedlings, and…
Industrial prosperity is a vital foundation for rural revitalisation. Perhaps inspired by Shouguang in Shandong, the centerpiece of agricultural industrial development in the rural central and western regions is often the promotion of greenhouse vegetable cultivation. Such is the case in Gong County (a pseudonym) in the central region. A…
This spring, before visiting Yan Ping’s “Happiness Fruit Herb Garden” in Guigang, Guangxi, I arrived with a misconception: that the place was remote and untouched, with a pristine ecological environment. In reality, the farm is surrounded by conventional orchards where the use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, and herbicides is commonplace.…
