Why We Started a Podcast: A Post-Award Reflection | Food Talk × Tuanli Jiegou

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Recently, Food Talk was delighted to receive the Annual Podcast Award in the Public Welfare and Environmental Protection category at the 3rd CPA Chinese Podcast Festival. This win sparked a serendipitous encounter. On 23 November, Food Talk host Xiaojing ran into fellow award-winner and old friend Yu Jiangang at the ceremony. Yu had hurried over from the peak chrysanthemum-harvesting season in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, where he co-hosts the partner podcast *Tuanli Jiegou*.

Food Talk, which rarely puts itself out there in the podcasting scene, found itself stepping beyond its usual bubble at this event. Through the eyes of peers and friends both within and beyond the podcasting world, we saw a different side of Food Talk. Xiaojing felt that Foodthink might have fit better under a “Food” category. Yu Jiangang, a fellow industry insider, joked: “We’re a lifestyle podcast—how did we end up with the Public Welfare and Environmental Protection Award?”

This prompted deeper reflection, which in turn inspired this crossover episode with Tuanli Jiegou. Why do different listeners perceive the same podcast in such varied ways? How do hosts who have cut their teeth in the charity sector draw the line between “public welfare” and day-to-day life? What role does food play in all of this? And why choose podcasting as a medium for expression?

The hosts take a rare step back on air to revisit why they started podcasting in the first place and the unexpected rewards they’ve found along the way. While all three hosts of Tuanli Jiegou share a focus on food and sustainable living, each brings a distinctly different background. How did these creators, hailing from all corners of the country, happen to come together to form this podcast? Pull up a chair and join the conversation.

Guest Hosts

Yue Li

Sustainable agriculture practitioner, based and working in Shenzhen. (WeChat Official Account: Wutong Island Market)

 

 

 

 

Du Yue

Late-90s half-farmer, half-X lifestyle practitioner, based and working in Weihai. (WeChat Official Account: Elderly Kid)

 

 

 

 

Yu Jiangang

Raising silkworms, reeling silk, and growing chrysanthemums. Based and working in Tongxiang, Jiaxing. (WeChat Official Account: Plum and Fish)

 

 

 

 

This Week’s Hosts

Xiaojing

Food Talk host. Boarding the legendary “cow-horse flight” to Shanghai for the first time, and finding the whole experience rather surreal.

 

 

 

 

Wang Hao

Foodthink editor, living and working in Beijing.

 

 

 

 

Timestamps

00:00 ‍ Host and guest introductions

03:04 Observations on the Minor Snow solar term from different regions ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

09:06 Our podcast actually won an award! But why in the “Public Welfare & Environmental Protection” category? ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

19:59 Yue Li and Du Yue’s backgrounds before podcasting, and shifts in their perspectives ‍‍‍‍

26:19 Why Tuanli Jiegou and Food Talk chose podcasting as a medium? Different starting points and working styles ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

40:07 Understanding the audience and interacting with them, current goals and realities of podcasting ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

54:28 Personal changes since starting podcasting ‍‍‍‍‍

63:36 Casual chat (village demolition updates, Guangdong’s “Year-End Harvest Festival”) ‍

Fellow podcasters gathered to jointly win an award in the “Public Welfare and Environmental Protection” category. However, Xiaojing believes Food Talk should fall under “Food,” while Yu Jiangang feels 团力结构 belongs in “Lifestyle.” Photographed by: Xiaojing
At the event venue in Shanghai, Xiaojing accepted the award alongside Yu Jiangang, attended a salon, enjoyed some coffee, and had a bowl of freshly made beef noodles on the bustling Nanjing West Road. The sign read: “No pre-made meals; wok-fried fresh over high heat. Please wait patiently 15–30 minutes.” Photographed by: Xiaojing
Duya photographed her two friends growing vegetables in an open plot; they share rented accommodation in a residential community in Weihai. One of them is Pengyue, an intern supported by Foodthink’s “Ecological Agriculture Internship Programme.”
Yueli currently manages a rooftop farm and the “Wutong Island Market” at Taihua Wutong Island in Shenzhen. Prior to this, she worked at the Wotu Farming School, where she organised field school sessions for fellow farmers.
Yu Jiangang lives in his hometown in Tongxiang, Zhejiang. The recording took place during the busy season for harvesting Hangbai chrysanthemums. Once grown by every household in the village, now only his family continues the practice; you can read about this story in the earlier article “The Last Acre of Hangbai Chrysanthemum in the Village.” More of his experiences returning to his hometown are shared in another episode of Food Talk: “Twelve Years of Returning Home: Finding a Personal Refuge Between Mulberry and Chrysanthemum.” Photographed by: Zhang Xiaoshu

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All images in this article are courtesy of the guest.

Podcast Production Team

Show Music: Banong

Coordination & Production: Xiaojing

Podcast Cover: Xiaojing

Contact Email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn

Article Editor: Wang Hao

Published by Foodthink