From late last year until April, the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai—a popular tourist destination—was frequently shrouded in a thick haze. On 29 March, Chiang Mai was ranked by IQAir as the most polluted city in the world, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 188, which is 17.4…
Foodthink’s Take In the previous edition of our “Eat Well” column, dozens of Foodthink readers shared their “moments they wanted to avoid takeout”. Many expressed their frustration; although there are times they are tired of takeout, the frantic pace of work, a lack of culinary skill, or poor kitchen facilities…
I. The Plastic Crisis: Regularly Updated “Microplastics have entered the human brain, and the weight of these particles can even exceed that of a plastic spoon.” Several friends sent me this message a few days ago. Since I started working for an environmental organisation a few years ago, I’ve become…
Editor’s Note Few dietary cultures are as deeply defined by religion and embedded in ethnic life as “Halal”. After connecting with Muslim friends from the Northwest, I realised that once they leave their predominantly Muslim communities to work in the South, they have very few affordable Halal dining options beyond…
Foodthink Says A previous Foodthink article, “Have Nutritionists Become Shills for Food Giants? Perspectives from Registered Nutritionists”, exposed how North American food corporations sponsor influencer nutritionists and industry organisations to sway public perception of food through misleading, quasi-scientific popularisation. Similar issues exist in China: health supplements and food advertisements are…
Last April, I arrived at Baicao Garden through Foodthink’s ecological agriculture internship programme. In Wule Town, Guigang City, Guangxi Province, where we were based, almost everything outside of Baicao Garden is chemical-based agriculture. On the drive into town, the sight of people spraying herbicides is a constant presence. I remember…
Qingming is a festival for ancestral worship and tomb-sweeping. This year, Qingming falls on 4 April, which happens to be 404. This brings to mind those articles that have been 404 not found. Last year, several Foodthink articles “disappeared” from our WeChat official account—the highest number in our history. Yet,…
In this episode of Food Talk, we are joined by the social enterprise Muyunpo to explore how they work with villagers to seek fairer, more sustainable methods of production—protecting nature while bringing high-quality local products to a wider market, ensuring farmers earn a better living. Xiaojin County, located in the…
Foodthink’s Perspective “Unsustainable production and consumption patterns are pushing the planet towards destruction.” This is the opening statement used by the United Nations to introduce Zero Waste Day, observed annually on 30 March. For urban residents in China, the vast majority of single-use plastic waste in daily life is linked…
Foodthink says Since its launch in 2003, the Taiwanese bimonthly magazine *Green Sprouts* has been documenting sustainable food and agricultural practices across the Taiwan Strait and internationally, inspiring and influencing a generation of practitioners. How did the story of *Green Sprouts* begin? How has a magazine that pays no contributor…
