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In many supermarkets across Japan, vegetables come with more than a price tag. Next to tomatoes or spinach, you may see a small photo of the farmer. Sometimes there is a name. Sometimes a short message. The idea is often called “vegetables where you can see the face” (顔の見える野菜) . The practice became more visible in the early 2000s. After a series of food safety scandals and labeling controversies, including mislabeling cases and BSE concerns, public trust in food labels declined across Japan. Consumers began demanding clearer traceability and stronger transparency in the food supply chain. Retailers responded in two ways. Tracking systems improved. Regulations tightened. On the shelf, something simple appeared. The producer’s face. In 2004, retailer Ito Yokado under Seven and i Holdings launched programs highlighting growers behind fresh produce. Regional supermarkets and agricultural cooperatives also expanded local production for local consumption sections known as chisan chisho, ...

English Version | 中文版本 Malaysians are being encouraged to consume more locally grown fruits as part of an ongoing effort to support farmers , promote healthy eating , and strengthen the domestic food system . Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Chan Foong Hin said the initiative focuses on increasing everyday consumption of homegrown fruits , particularly through local parliamentary service centres such as Kota Kinabalu. The move aligns with nationwide programmes under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security , which aim to reduce reliance on imported produce while improving market access for local farmers . Officials noted that locally produced fruits are often competitively priced and better suited to local supply conditions , positioning them as a practical daily choice rather than an occasional alternative. Under Budget 2026 , the ministry received RM6.87 billion in total allocation , with RM2.04 billion earmarked for development spending . Part of this fundi...

English Version | 中文版本 Penang is a state in northern Malaysia. Its history as a port and trading centre shaped how people cooked, ate, and shared food. Over time, migration, coastal work, and street-based economies formed a food culture built around daily meals rather than formal dining . The Penang state government has officially designated 10 local dishes as state heritage . The move recognises these foods as living practices,  developed through everyday life and still actively prepared today. These dishes were not created as specialities for visitors. Most emerged from hawker stalls, traditional coffee shops, fishing communities, and roadside kitchens . Influences from Malay, Chinese, Indian Muslim, and Javanese communities reflect Penang’s long history as a place of settlement and exchange . Presented dish by dish below, each caption explains what the dish is, how it roughly tastes, and why it exists in Penang , for readers encountering this food culture for the first time...

English Version | 中文版本 Feeding children at scale is not about cooking once. It is about making sure food shows up every school day. Singapore’s move toward a central kitchen model for selected school canteens is not a culinary decision. It is a care strategy. Faced with vendor shortages and rising costs, responsibility shifts from individual stallholders to shared infrastructure. Central kitchens prepare meals in advance, then deliver them to schools for reheating and service. The goal is reliability, not creativity. This reduces reliance on on-site labour and ensures lunch does not disappear when operations are under strain. The trade-off is clear. Food built to survive transport and holding will not chase peak freshness. That compromise is intentional. For children, predictability matters. When a society decides that children will be cared for every day, without exception, the system matters. Sometimes food matters not because it is special, but because it puts kids firs...

English Version | 中文版本 At first glance, it’s hard not to be drawn in. A watermelon shaped into a heart, bright green and feels more like a gift than everyday fruit . Something meant for proposals, anniversaries, or small celebrations. It looks romantic before it explains itself. This one isn’t imported, and it isn’t made just for display. It’s grown locally in Malaysia by LFS Farm Enterprise , and officially recognised by Malaysia Book of Records as the country’s first heart-shaped watermelon farm. Most people encounter this watermelon through its shape first. That visual impression delays the real story. Beyond the shape, it’s still a watermelon meant to be eaten. Sweet, familiar, and unmistakably a fruit. What’s different is the effort behind it. Growing heart-shaped watermelons requires precise timing, careful control, and patience, with real risk along the way. What gives it weight is that this effort happened locally, grown in Malaysia. That’s where the record matters. Not as...

English Version | 中文版本 Thailand is not banning sugar, and it is not asking people to stop drinking sweet beverages. Instead, the country is changing something more subtle: the default sweetness level . Starting February 11, drinks sold at participating cafés and beverage chains will use 50% sweetness as the default setting , rather than full sugar. The guideline is led by the Thailand Department of Health in collaboration with major operators. Recipes are not being reformulated , and higher sweetness levels remain available by request . What changes is the baseline used when no preference is specified . By adjusting defaults rather than restricting choice , Thailand is testing whether everyday habits can shift quietly over time . English Version  |  中文版本 Reference: Thailand Department of Health (กรมอนามัย)

English Version | 中文版本 UNESCO and Lee Kum Kee have launched the Forever Flavors Project , a global initiative inviting the public to submit personal food memories and family recipes for cultural documentation. The project focuses on everyday cooking experiences, encouraging participants to share stories connected to home dishes, food traditions, and personal memories, rather than professional cuisine. Selected submissions will be officially recorded as part of the project archive and will receive an archival certificate acknowledging their inclusion. The first submission period runs from January 20 to March 15, 2026 . Entries can be submitted via the official campaign website at foreverflavorsproject.lkk.com   or by email at foreverflavorsproject@lkk.com. The initiative is open worldwide, with no professional cooking background required. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lee Kum Kee (@leekumkeeglobal) The Forever Flavors Project...

English Version | 中文版本 In a supermarket in northern Thailand, bundles of green beans, cucumbers, and herbs once appeared not in plastic, but folded in fresh banana leaves. The images went viral because they looked poetic. But the logic behind them was purely practical. The retailer, widely identified as Rimping Supermarket in Chiang Mai, was not redesigning food for trend or tradition. It was addressing a basic problem. How to reduce single-use plastic at the exact point where food meets the consumer , without introducing complex new systems, machines, or materials. Banana leaves are already part of the local food ecosystem. They are flexible, breathable, abundant, and familiar to both vendors and shoppers. They perform the same function as plastic wrap. They group produce, protect it, and signal freshness , using a material that already belongs to the region’s agricultural rhythm. This was not a new technology. It was a material substitution. The significance is not the leaf ...

English Version | 中文版本 Florida was once orange groves first , towns second. Flo Groves revisits that history with a clear, forward-looking food idea. Shared through a campaign on Kickstarter , Flo Groves explores what it looks like when food production stays close to everyday life . Citrus trees are treated as working land with purpose . They are grown, cared for, and lived alongside, rather than pushed out of sight. Instead of separating food from housing and community space, the project places groves at the center of daily routines . Homes, walkways, and shared areas are designed around trees that grow fruit over time, change with the seasons, and reward long-term care. Food becomes something people see, understand, and value before it ever reaches the table . From a food perspective, the strength of the idea lies in its patience . Trees take years to mature. Harvests follow natural cycles. Flo Groves embraces these rhythms and treats them as assets , allowing citrus to shape ho...

English Version | 中文版本 At one of its egg farm complexes in Thailand, CP Foods operates a production system where waste is no longer a disposal problem but an energy input. Chicken manure is processed into biogas. Solar panels supplement power generation during daylight hours. An energy management system balances demand across the day. The farm operates without relying on the national grid. This setup is not framed as a sustainability experiment. It functions as production infrastructure. Egg farming produces waste continuously. Managing that waste requires energy, labor, and cost. Left untreated, it becomes an operational and regulatory burden. By converting manure into biogas and combining it with solar power, the farm stabilizes its energy supply while reducing dependence on external systems. In this model, energy becomes a condition for food production. Electricity powers ventilation, temperature control, feeding systems, and processing. When energy supply is unstable or expensi...