The 12th Asian Food Science Forum focuses on "Food Life"

A few days ago, the two-day 12th Asian Food Science Forum was held
in Caojin, Japan, and Huizhou, Guangdong, China.
The theme of this forum is "Food Culture in the Post-pandemic Era: Tradition, Industry and Local Revitalization"
.
The forum was hosted by the Organizing Committee of the Asian Food Science Forum, co-organized by Guangdong Luofu Mountain Thai School, organized by the Food Research Center of Ritsumeikan University in Japan, and supported
by the Confucius Institute of Ritsumeikan University and the School of Humanities and Communication of Zhejiang Gongshang University.

According to the relevant person in charge of the organizing committee of the forum, this forum received a total of papers
from scholars and caterers from 13 countries and regions.
At present, more and more countries are trying to shift the focus of social operations to post-pandemic recovery and reconstruction
.
In the field of food production and food life, which is related to people's livelihood and the continuation of human culture and civilization, problem response and method selection are particularly important and urgent
.
The Asian Food Science Forum has been doing its best to unite food scholars from all over the world and encourage more enthusiastic food scientists to continue to study and think about the proposition
of the human table.

In his opening speech, Professor Naoto Minami of Ritsumeikan University, Executive Chairman of the Forum, talked about the serious problems facing humanity in the post-pandemic era, and that diet will play an important role
in social and economic reconstruction.
Professor Toshio Asakura, Director of the Organizing Committee of the Asian Food Science Forum, put forward the vision of establishing a society in Japan, and called on food scholars from all countries to seek the survival and development
of the Forum.
Professor Zhao Rongguang, Chairman of the Forum and Director of the Institute of Chinese Food Culture of Zhejiang Gongshang University, emphasized that the essence of food science is a very comprehensive science that closely combines theory and practice, and it is the science of survival and life
.
Food science concerns everyone and society as a whole, and mass food is the focus of
the forum.
He once again reiterated the concept and principle of the forum "culture has roots, civilization has no boundaries": culture has roots, and the study of food culture may be national; Civilization knows no bounds, and the vision of food science research is universal and international
.

Six keynote speakers from China, Japan, South Korea, Italy and other countries explained the tone
of this forum from multiple dimensions such as history, society, economy, policy, ethics, and ideological trends.

Carlo Petrini, founding president of Slow Food International, pointed out in his speech "Global Network and Multidisciplinary Research in Gastronomy" that in the post-pandemic era, the overall dietary dilemma faced by human beings is very different from the past, which brings new challenges to human beings, whether for food producers, decision-makers, and consumers
.
Therefore, the networking of new gourmets is particularly urgent, with the ultimate goal of balancing the harm caused by human actions to the planet and to human beings themselves, thereby creating happiness and human well-being
.
According to reports, the International Slow Food Association has one million members, including scholars, food enterprises and self-employed people, in more than 160 countries
.

Kazuo Oishi, Counsellor of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, gave a comprehensive introduction to Japanese food culture
.
In 2020, Japan set up a department dedicated to food culture under the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and carefully evaluated food in the field of intangible culture, using "Japanese traditional sake making", "raw sweets and refining with inscriptions" and "Kyoto cuisine" as examples to illustrate the key points
of evaluation of food intangible cultural heritage at the national level in Japan.

Professor Zhang Yulin of Nanjing University expressed concern in his speech "On the External Dependence of Food in East Asia" that the modern society
has changed from a production and lifestyle dominated by agriculture to a tense relationship between people and land, and it is difficult to support mass production, mass consumption, and mass discard.
He believes that the dual external dependence of food and energy reflects the "success" of East Asia at the economic level, but from the perspective of global resource-environment dimension, it is ecologically expansive and its sustainability is worth exploring in depth
.

Professor Naoto Minami pointed out in his speech "Thinking about the Future of Food – What We Should Eat Today and Tomorrow, and How We Should Eat It" that a series of problems caused by population pressure and environmental degradation are intertwined with the food problem
.
Research on dietary health, dietary ethics and animal welfare, organic agriculture, food education, etc.
, is becoming an important trend
in food science research.

Professor Zhou Yongha, Graduate School of Korean Studies, Academia Siica, made a report entitled "30 Years of Diplomatic Relations between China and South Korea, 30 Years of Sino-Korean Food Exchanges", which explained the localization process of exotic foods by comparing Korean food in Beijing and Chinese food in Seoul, and expressed the Internet war caused by the kimchi name dispute that Chinese and Korean scholars should deepen their research on food culture exchanges and reduce the extreme views
of various people on foreign food culture due to food nationalism.

Zhao Rongguang analyzed the famine phenomenon in Jiangsu during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, which summarized the regular characteristics of famine in human society before modern times, and believed that in the era of economic integration, it was difficult for individuals or even a single country to have sufficient strength to avoid famine, and thus expounded the strategy
to avoid famine.

During the same period, there were 7 sub-forums, including the possibility and sustainability of food system, the creation and reengineering of Yunnan diet, the spread and flow of regional diet, the dilemma and opportunity of local diet in the post-epidemic era, the spread and inheritance of tea culture, the linkage between food supply and community, and the change of catering consumption mode in the post-epidemic era
.
The content of the deputies' speeches showed the characteristics of
rich cases, cultural diversity, and new angles.

"The Creation and Reinvention of Yunnan Diet" is a special seminar convened by Dr.
Ma Zhen of Dali University, where five young scholars made meaningful explorations on Dai tempeh, tea and coffee, salt industry society, intangible cultural heritage tea mountain and other topics from the perspectives of anthropology and history, so that people have a more intuitive understanding
of the ethnic diversity, local activity and cultural exchanges of Yunnan diet.

Dr.
Maria Yotova of Ritsumeikan University in Japan conducted an analytical study of the Bulgarian catering industry, tracing the development of the catering industry in the country over the decades and pointing out the main challenges
faced by the catering industry under the influence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Noriko Nakata, Director of the Gourmet City Planning Division of the Planning Department of Kohama City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, introduced the city's gourmet city strategy launched in 2000, that is, taking food as the core and comprehensively promoting relevant measures throughout the city, such as revitalizing industries, protecting the environment, ensuring food safety, promoting people's well-being and health, and promoting food education
.
In particular, food education is included in the scope of "career education" and "compulsory education", and effective food education activities
are carried out based on local food theme museums.

Akira Shimizu, President of the Kyoto Nishiki Market Shopping Street Promotion Association, introduced Nishiki Market's social role as a "Kyoto kitchen" and some of the association's positive efforts
during the pandemic.
The association links the community for the market, and the community enhances the activity of the market, forming a benign interaction mechanism
for local revitalization.

Wang Guichun, a patent inventor from Ji'an, Jiangxi Province, made an interesting introduction
to his new sanitary chopsticks.
Although the delegates disagreed on his invention of chopsticks, his reflection on the traditional Chinese food table "each hand pokes one chopstick to the end" is quite relevant
.
The farmer's representative's
spirit of diligent thinking and exploration also infected many delegates present and online.

Varo Luozhu Nanjie, president of the Nianbao Yuze Yak Association in Jiuzhi County, Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, delivered a speech on "Yak and Herdsman Food Culture on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau" and lamented that this was the first time that Tibetan scholars introduced Nianbaoyuze and profound yak culture
to the international food community through the Asian Food Science Forum.

This forum also has some excellent works on recipes research that have sparked wonderful discussions
.
Professor Du Bosi of Beijing Normal University made a basic classification of the modern value of old recipes, which he believes is very helpful
for the study of culinary history.
Associate Professor Zhu Duosheng of Sichuan Railway Vocational College explored the development of Sichuan-style seafood cuisine from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period, enriching people's understanding
of Sichuan cuisine.
Li Junling of Beijing Foreign Chinese University restored the time-varying translation of "stir-fry" and "wok" through the investigation of English Chinese recipes, which is an important and interesting supplement
to the history of Chinese food spread overseas.

At the closing ceremony, the chairman of the forum announced the results of the 5th Chinese Food Science Works Suiyuan Award, "Journey to the West: The History and Culture of Overseas Chinese Restaurants in the Late Qing Republic of China", "Research on Liao Dynasty Food Culture from the Perspective of Food Anthropology", "Five Flavors Realm: Research on Pre-Qin Dietary Aesthetics", "Research on Storage System as Seen in Qin Jianmu", "Recipes of Prehistoric Residents of Hami Basin" 5 selected nomination awards, and the final winning works of the 2021 Suiyuan Award are vacant
.

(Ma Yonggang, Wang Si)

China Food News (December 07, 2022, Version 07).

(Responsible editor: Wang Ning)