“People never enjoy fermented drinks alone.” ——Neither Raw Nor Ripe: A Civilisation History of Fermented Foods I. First Encounters It was early summer 2020 in Beijing. In the early days of pandemic restrictions, everything still seemed manageable. The upheaval of the new year and the turmoil abroad seemed to have…
Foodthink’s Take Beyond being consumed, becoming waste is the final destination for a significant portion of our food. According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, one-third of all food worldwide is eventually lost or wasted, much of which ends up in the bin. Food…
When we talk about consumer rights, what are we actually talking about? International consumer movements typically approach rights from four perspectives: the right to safety, the right to information, the right to choose, and the right to be heard. Today, Foodthink will start with food consumption—something no one can live…
Foodthink says Last Monday, we shared the reasons why more than ten young people decided to press the pause button on their city lives. Why, then, did they not choose to simply ‘lie flat’, but instead head to the countryside to learn how to farm and embrace a more laborious…
This episode was recorded in the deserts of Alashan, Inner Mongolia, by Qihua, Foodthink’s researcher on climate change and small-scale ecological farming, and two guests. At the end of August 2022, the three of them sat beneath a great tree in an oasis within the Tengger Desert. In the background,…
Foodthink says In the Inner Mongolia region, where the vast majority of herders have transitioned to settled livestock farming, many cases of gastric perforation caused by barbed wire have emerged among cattle and sheep across grasslands now divided by fences. Meanwhile, in the banners of Ordos, where high-yield livestock breeds…
I. Xiao Tang and Xiao Wen’s home is nestled in a valley. The stream there is small, barely half a metre deep, yet it flows year-round and can be found on a map. Flowing south, it joins other waterways several times before feeding into the Ohio River, which runs from…
Foodthink’s Agroecology Internship Programme was originally conceived to connect young people aspiring to return to their roots in agroecology with seasoned mentors who possess a wealth of practical experience. The aim was to foster a relationship of mutual learning and collaboration, helping a new generation of farmers minimise the cost…
Author’s Note My husband, Mr Panghu, and I live in a small town in the Great Lakes region of the American Midwest. The local farmers’ market has been running for nearly thirty years, and we have witnessed more than a decade of its history. This series of short pieces aims…
A note from Foodthink As temperatures rise, many farmers in the north are ending their winter dormancy and preparing for spring ploughing. For herders on the grasslands, however, the winter and spring lambing and calving season is the busiest time of the year, and the period when local veterinarians make…
