The eldest sister in Chexu Village on the Jinsha River says: “Everything is my own, except the iron wok.” A filling-less mooncake holds a year of farm work—wheat, oil, bees, waiting for roses and gardenias to bloom in turn, then a slow bake at the open hearth.
Growing up beside the assembly line and ovens of a small mooncake factory in rural Hunan, I refuse every Mid-Autumn mooncake, reprocessing those cloyingly sweet, scorched memories once more.
Director Liu Taifeng of Another Hopeful Day: riders in debt on day one, programmers locked into appraisals, restaurants forced to inflate reviews – algorithms strap different social strata into the same chariot, and two years on, the industry is still worsening.
Unlike last year’s brief Typhoon Doksuri downpour, this year’s relentless North China rain has nearly wiped out leafy vegetables for Liu Gang, owner of Xiaoliushu Farm in Shunyi. Autumn planting is nearly a month late, and vegetable prices have risen 40% nationwide.
Xia Lili and her son Lemao savour a rare summer crop of old-variety yellow peas from Jinzi’s one-person farm in Xiaojin County, Aba Prefecture, with simple pea rice recipes for summer and winter.
In August 2024, two feature films about the food delivery industry were released. Simultaneously, Hangzhou saw two sudden incidents involving delivery riders: in August, a clash between a rider and a security guard sparked collective protests among nearby riders; in September, a “top-tier” rider died suddenly on his e-bike, triggering…
Inspired by Nichole, a US permaculture practitioner in Texas, Zhang Yiqing learns permaculture, stops using herbicides and chemical fertilisers, grows food on large suburban front- and back-yard lawns, and reflects on American lawn culture.
From saccharin and Agent Orange to Roundup and genetically modified seeds, its 115-year history shows how new agribusiness products created fresh problems while US regulation arrived only after harm.
Is a future where artificial intelligence replaces humans still far off? While some have already begun to fear for their livelihoods, the widespread adoption of algorithms in sectors such as food delivery and retail has already transformed the way ordinary people eat. But does new technology necessarily herald a progressive…
As a foodie, I don’t eat meat, but I cannot live without beans—soybeans, mung beans, red beans, black beans, and chickpeas. Although I avoid buying from shops as much as possible and try to eat what I grow myself, the consumption of soy products at Evil Person Valley has always…
