A turbulent year of lockdowns, extreme heat, and disrupted food systems in China, seen through Foodthink’s nearly 100 articles, 40 events, and 13 podcast episodes — from Shanghai’s vegetable scrambles to a climate survey of ecological smallholders.
Yu Jiangang left advertising in Beijing to rear silkworms and make silk quilts in his Jiangnan village. Twelve years on, commercial agriculture and capital have pressed closer, and the question of whether a rural identity can survive outside the marketplace remains open.
Chen Chong spent a month at the Tang family’s eleven-person farm in Jintang County near Chengdu, where a scattered household has spent a decade finding its way back together on the land.
Foodthink recaps five years of food and agriculture writing and community events, asks past attendees to complete a survey with a set of Douban Nature tableware as the prize, and previews the Beijing Fengnianqing online series from 22 December to 15 January.
Foodthink colleagues will ‘take over’ Community Market, Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market’s physical vegetable shop, on 23 October, running the store for a day and hosting four events, including a loose goods area tour, a Bule Cheese tasting, and a decade-in-business roundtable. Join in person or online.
Chengde tomatoes lost seventy to eighty per cent to powdery mildew, Shunyi watermelons split in the field under prolonged overcast and rain, and Guilin sweet potatoes lost all marketability to severe drought. After such losses, several ecological small-scale farmers are finding a way forward through diversified planting, wet-dry rotation, and soil improvement.
From an open-hearth dinner in walnut oil to a mountain village where heritage pigs forage on acorns, two days of Lisu cooking reveal how over a hundred wild greens serve as both nourishment and medicine.
Three years on German organic farms and a month on a Chinese one inform the ergonomic habits and specific tools — ploughing forks, small hoes, row markers — that reduce strain on back and joints.
Every Sunday, more than 200 farmers and local producers sell their own produce directly at nearly 20 London markets, with a set proportion of ingredients from within 100 miles. For many Londoners, these are among the few open spaces to get outside and talk face to face with producers during the pandemic.
Foodthink records the pandemic-era routine of shared purchasing with the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market, recounts farm visits across several provinces in the second half of the year, and shares four winter recipes from Xiao Liushu Farm.