Podcast episodes, transcripts, interviews, and related content.
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…
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,…
This episode was recorded in the Alxa desert of Inner Mongolia by Qihua, Foodthink’s lead on climate change and ecological smallholder research, along with two guests. In late August 2022, the three of them sat under a large tree in an oasis within the Tengger Desert; you may hear the…
In 2021, the first season of the reality documentary *Clarkson’s Farm*, featuring a grumpy old man trying his hand at farming, earned a high score of 9.6 on Douban. This February 10th, the second season is set to premiere. Why has Jeremy Clarkson—the wealthy old man and former host of…
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.
Foodthink’s Beijing team, sealed in their office for seven days during 2022’s lockdown, looks back on the year and shares what each colleague hopes 2023 will bring.
Ma Lan, who has developed forest kindergarten programmes since 2014, discusses what Chinese children gain from spending a full year sowing, tending, harvesting, and cooking their own food through farm-based nature education.
Foodthink’s two Beijing colleagues and two Shanghai friends chat online about life under the spring lockdowns: what to eat each day, how to steady the anxiety, and how isolation became a chance to pick up new skills in killing fish and cutting up chicken.
