In this episode, the Food Talk hosts are joined by an old friend, Shu Meng, who holds a PhD in Sociology from Cornell University. Our discussion takes its starting point from Shu Meng’s popular article, ‘The Bigger the Fridge, the Worse the Diet? The Food System in American Middle-Class Fridges’.…
At the start of this year, four years after moving to the Netherlands, my partner and I finally rented a hectare of land in the province of Utrecht to begin cultivating my own farm. Before deciding to commit to farming, I had interned at several small organic farms across the…
Where Design Meets Food: The Ten-Year Renewal of a Beijing Community Greengrocer | Food Talk Vol. 20
Nestled among the countless trendy restaurants and cafes of the bustling Fenghuanghui commercial street on Beijing’s East Third Ring Road, there is a vegetable shop called “Ji Shi”. If you have ever passed by, you may have been drawn in by its rustic storefront and understated displays. In this episode,…
I am Xiaomi. In December 2021, at the age of 26, I resigned from a civil service training company. Without a clear idea of what job to look for, I headed home to prepare for the Lunar New Year. During the holiday, I began to think about my future; I…
In Europe and Japan, there is a long history of children learning through nature and agriculture. Every year, primary school pupils are organised by their schools to visit the fields to learn how to sow, nurture, and produce food—moving from the classroom to the outdoors, and from spring ploughing to…
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…
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…
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…
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.









