Always Asked Where to Buy Veg? This Time We’re Really Promoting Products!

Xiao Liushu’s salad box, Snail Farm’s White Jade bitter gourd, Wubo Yuan’s Chongchong eggs… When we share our work lunch on WeChat Moments, we always try to spell out exactly where each ingredient comes from.

If you’ve only just followed Foodthink, you might be wondering: you don’t even sell vegetables, so why are you so enthusiastic about promoting products?

Since you’re asking, let’s start with the people who grow the food – the ecological farming friends we’ve come to know.

Before they got into ecological farming and animal rearing, they came from all walks of life. Yet at different points along the way, each of them recognised the unsustainability of conventional agriculture and the potential food-safety risks it poses, and decided to grow their own food – and to supply safe, reliable ingredients to consumers with the same needs. Foodthink’s original articles section, “Small Farmer Stories,” is devoted to telling exactly that kind of story.

We hope more people will come to understand their farming philosophy and the positive contribution that ecological growing makes to protecting biodiversity and building resilience against climate change.

At the same time, we back the social value they create through our actual purchasing choices. Every work lunch, then, is a chance for us to put the idea of “sustainable eating” into practice.

We also get messages from readers asking: where can I actually buy these ingredients?

Now it’s time to give a proper introduction to “Community Market.” Community Market is the physical vegetable shop run by the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. The ecological farming friends who take part in the Farmers’ Market deliver their produce to the store on a regular schedule, supplying consumers in the surrounding neighbourhoods. Foodthink does its everyday shopping at Community Market, too.

As a space connecting consumers and producers, Foodthink has also hosted several sharing sessions at Community Market. From kombucha and kimchi to rural revitalisation and the organic transition, the vast range of food and farming topics has shown us the many possibilities for connection and dialogue.

This time, we want to do something even bigger: Take Over Community Market!

So how exactly do we pull off this takeover? This Sunday (23 October), our colleagues at Foodthink will transform from customers into Community Market shop assistants, taking charge of the store’s day-to-day operations: coordinating deliveries from the farming friends, operating the till, processing online orders, restocking the shelves, preparing the work lunch… For us, this will be an entirely new experience.

We also hope “Take Over Community Market” will be a chance to meet you all, our readers, in person. To help everyone get to know Community Market better, Foodthink has prepared four themed activities.

If you happen to be in Beijing on Sunday, come find us at the shop for a chat! Community Market (Fenghuanghui branch)

If you won’t be in Beijing, do follow the live stream of that day’s activities.

– Green Stance Tour –

Since moving to the new shop, the thing the Community Market team is proudest of is having a dedicated loose goods area.

Since 2016, Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market · Green Stance has been working alongside the farming friends to keep cutting back on single-use packaging, offering as many bulk food and household items as possible so consumers can bring their own containers and shop loose.

Beyond bulk shopping, Green Stance also encourages everyone to bring reusable packaging and delivery supplies into the store for consumers and farming friends to share and reuse, so we can all work together to make sure one more reuse means one less bit of pollution.

This time, we’ve invited Tala, head of Green Stance, to train us on the day-to-day upkeep of the loose goods area and the recycling corner. You’re welcome to come in person or watch online.

– Time – 

11:00-11:30

– In-Person Participation –

Click the link to fill in the registration form

– Work Lunch Open Day –

All you readers who’ve been drooling with envy over WeChat Moments – your chance to crash our lunch is here!

If you’re sure you can make it to the shop that day, share this post on WeChat Moments – tell us your story with Foodthink or what you’re looking forward to at the Take Over Community Market event – then add “foodthinkcn” on WeChat and send a screenshot of your share. We’ll pick three readers to join us for lunch. Don’t forget to bring your own cutlery!

– Time – 

12:00-13:00

– In-Person Participation –

Limited to 3 places

Share this post and add Foodthink’s WeChat ID to sign up

– Bule Cheese Tasting Session –

After studying cheesemaking in France, Bule Cheese founder Liu Yang returned to Beijing to make artisanal cheese with local milk, and became a star stallholder at the Farmers’ Market. Bule Cheese has won a gold prize at an international cheese competition; Liu Yang has also been invited to serve as a judge in the cheese category at a French agricultural competition, and was awarded the Knight’s Medal of the Sait-Maure de Touraine cheese guild.

He previously appeared as a guest at Foodthink’s “Incredible Fermentation and Brewing” book club, and this year has been running the “Small Farmer’s Table” at Community Market, developing and making delicious Alsatian flame crêpes with ecological small-farmer ingredients. This Sunday, we’ve invited Liu Yang to take us on a journey into the world of cheese and savour its extraordinary flavours together.

– Time – 

14:00-15:00

– In-Person Participation –

Click the link to fill in the registration form

Cost: ¥120 per person

Maximum capacity is 10 people. First come, first served.

No online participation available.

– Roundtable Discussion: A Decade at an Organic Grocery Store –

In the evening, Foodthink editor Wang Hao and colleagues from Community Market co-organised a roundtable discussion, planning to chat together about:

– Time – 

19:00-20:30

– In-Person Participation –

Click the link to fill in the registration form

The event is free

The venue can accommodate a maximum of 10 people. First come, first served.

The most exciting part is that Community Market has even set a little sales target for Foodthink. If we don’t hit that number on the day, we’ll have to pay the venue rental.

So please – if you’re on a tight budget, spread the word; if you have the means, visit the store or place an online order to help us smash our sales target. Tap “Read the original article” or scan the QR code to sign up. This Sunday, we look forward to seeing you all, online and in person!

– Scan to Sign Up –

Photos: Xiaoshu, Community Market, Duoduo

Video: Duoduo

Editor: Ze’en