The “Artificial Shortcuts” in Food: What’s the Point?｜Food Talk Vol.19

In 2022, the phrase “科技与狠活儿” (roughly “tech and ruthless additives”) captured the public imagination. Through the dramatic demonstrations of social media influencers, consumers once again began scrutinising the additives hidden in everyday foods—not the unequivocally harmful and illegal substances like Sudan Red or plasticisers, but those “technically legal, yet frankly unnecessary” food additives.

In this episode, the two Foodthink hosts invite our guest Sun Lin to join us in discussing this topic.

You can make soy sauce without using a single soybean, and even the simplest white toast may contain over a dozen additives… Artificial compounds designed to preserve, flavour, colour, scent, and adjust texture all work in concert to “mimic” the character of whole, natural foods.

Yet long before the rise of industrial food processing, people achieved similar results through cooking and fermentation. But ever since the first crystals of monosodium glutamate were created, those time-consuming and labour-intensive traditional methods—such as fermentation or slow-simmering stocks—have been superseded by far simpler and cheaper alternatives.

Is substituting depth with concentration, and masking the immense pressures of daily life with intense flavours, truly the inevitable trajectory of a society that has developed at breakneck speed over the past century? And are we fully aware of the price we pay for this substitution?

For those of us constantly swept along by such a relentless pace of life, might taking a brief moment to read a food label serve as a chance to step off the social treadmill and reconnect with ourselves? This episode may well offer some fresh perspectives to help you do just that.

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Sun Lin

Sun Lin is a researcher in traditional food culture and organic diets, a food critic, columnist, and senior consultant to organic food producers and hospitality businesses. He is also the founder of the “Chan Chu” (Zen Kitchen) platform. Through writing, public talks, interactive salons, and food design, he shares his research to inspire and influence others. He works closely with organic farmers, restaurant owners, chefs, food processors, and consumers, offering product reviews, practical adjustments, cultural insights, culinary knowledge, and creative ideas. His aim is to empower each of them to bring out their best while highlighting the inherent beauty of natural foods.

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Wan Lin

A member of Foodthink. She rarely dines out, spends most of her time in the kitchen, and consciously avoids ordering takeout. Raised on her mother’s home-cooked meals, she has now been cooking for fifteen years herself. She enjoys exploring how to elevate flavour and how to streamline the cooking process without sacrificing quality.

Xiao Jing

Producer of Food Talk. A former business journalist who has interviewed Michelin-starred chefs, she now seeks to trace food back to its origins in order to understand the world more fully. Over the past two years, one notable shift in her habits has been making a conscious effort to read ingredient labels whenever she shops for groceries.

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03:02 What exactly are food additives? Illegal additives versus the increasingly scrutinised “legal but unnecessary” ones.06:39 Why do foods actually need additives? When sweetness, umami, colour, and texture can all be simulated with additives, everything seems to become cheaper and more convenient.07:58 Soy sauce blended from additives doesn’t contain a single soybean; a standard supermarket white loaf simply can’t be made without a dozen additives: the “tech and heavy processing” born out of mass demand in an industrialised society.

19:26 The butterfly effect of food additives: MSG, invented by the Japanese, made its way into Republican-era Chinese recipes. A single spoonful could replicate the savouriness of a pot of stock, making chefs who laboured over seasoning look foolish by comparison.

22:09 In recent decades, why has intense “spicy” become the new flavour sweeping the country?

27:00 A look at sugar substitutes: a technology developed for a small group with specific dietary needs—once it entered mainstream diets, could it pose health risks?

32:26 Legal additives may not be inherently harmful, but their unchecked and excessive use could certainly cause major problems.

37:22 Behind the craving for intense flavours lies an individual’s search for stress relief, as well as a microcosm of society’s fast-paced rhythm.

44:19 On a planet with finite energy, striving to sustain a growing population with limited resources—do we have no choice but to “add”?

50:09 In daily life, take an extra glance at the ingredients list and let your “food quotient” grow alongside your experience.

56:42 A standardised social clock brings a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, overlooking individual differences. Find your own rhythm and start to “reclaim yourself” through what you eat.