Farmers’ markets, solidarity economies, community-supported agriculture, local food systems, and PGS.
Editor’s Note In the Yulin community of Chengdu, a vegetable “blind box” from farmer-friend Hu Xuemei brought a little “shock” and an unexpected change to Xia Lili, the cook of the Little Dining Table. This is the fourth instalment of “Master One-Pot’s Little Dining Table”, which will discuss Xia Lili’s…
Editor’s Note In the opening of the “One-Pot Abbess’s Little Dining Table” series, Xia Lili begins with a series of memories, explaining her “dining table” philosophy and the origins of the Little Dining Table project. In this piece, Xia Lili takes us into the vivid reality of the project. Stationed…
Editor’s Note In a corner of Yulin, Chengdu, Xia Lili—known to the locals as “Master Yi Guo”—has launched a new experiment: The Little Dining Table. This is a warm, collective dining initiative where neighbours team up as “dining buddies” to purchase and share meals, establishing regular eating habits and enjoying…
Foodthink’s Perspective As mentioned previously, consumers are often too disconnected from the point of production to truly understand the quality of their food, making it difficult for them to effectively safeguard their rights. To address this, Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) practices have emerged within China. PGS emphasises that various ‘stakeholders’—including…
In Sanyuanqiao, Beijing, there is an unusual community vegetable shop where all produce is delivered directly by local agroecological smallholders. Each piece of produce is tied to a specific grower’s name, and nothing is grown using pesticides or chemical fertilisers, adhering to strict production standards. This shop, called Ji Shi,…
Over a year ago, the entire Foodthink team “usurped the nest“, taking over the community vegetable shop of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. In a single day, we took full responsibility for all shop operations and achieved such great sales results that we won our “wager”. The first “Occupy the…
In 2016, I had a few failed attempts at grocery shopping at Sanyuanli Market. I only returned recently to visit an exhibition and found that the market had long since found its true calling: as an art installation. Returning after seven years, Sanyuanli has become polished and glamorous. To promote…
Foodthink’s Perspective In October this year, Foodthink partnered with dozens of farmers’ markets, eco-farms, fermentation artisans, restaurants, publishing houses, and non-profit organisations to launch the ‘Ferment Awakening Festival’. In November, we hosted four book club sessions centred on Sandor Katz’s *The Art of Fermentation*. Our guest for the first session…
I grew up in New York City, and from a young age, I loved all kinds of pickles. Little did I imagine that those delicious, crunchy, garlicky pickles would one day lead me on a journey of discovery and exploration. In truth, besides pickles, fermented products such as bread, cheese,…
Perhaps you have already heard of homemade pickles, kimchi, or kombucha; they seem to have become the latest craze among young people. In reality, you may never have considered that fermented foods are actually staples in our kitchens—be it soy sauce, vinegar, wine, cheese, miso, or fermented bean curd, they…
