Matea Varvodic December 2, 2019 2:19 pm *

Farmers Kitchen Hualien, Taiwan

WHAT IT IS

Farm to table restaurant

WHERE IT IS

in Hualien, Taiwan

WHY IT IS RELEVANT

Due to communication issues, my Taiwanese group member students helped me in communicating with the shop owners, so i hope the information is right.

The restaurant started some years ago as a farm to table restaurant, established by a farmer from Malaysia, living in Taiwan.

The farm provided all ingredients for the menue of the restaurant while also connecting the farmer to the guests trough posters.

Unfortunatley the Malaysian restaurant owner had to move to malaysia (reasons are unclear), so he had to give up the restaurant this August, as the actual owner explained. The actual owner is getting all ingredients from an traditional market in Hualien.

This Case was a best practice case back then.

Foodsharing Taiwan

What it is:

A group of volunteers collect food leftovers from buffets and restaurants and provides them in community fridges as a free meal. They hold various events at different venues, including activities such as distribution of the saved surplus food, talks, presentations, movie screening, volunteer recruitments, cooking acitivties with suplus incredients and so on. This initiative got created out of a european movement against food waste. Their system already exists and works in a wider scale in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and other european countries.

https://foodsharing.de/

Where it is:

mainly Taipei but also on the west coast of Taiwan

Why it is relevant:

It creates a community that teaches awareness about leftover food while reducing food waste through a non-profit organisation.

Cases 41 education 5 food connect 5 food waste 2

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Anna Luz Joséphine Pueyo Kirwan December 1, 2019 11:19 pm

InVisible Cities

What it is :

IVC – InVisibleCities is an open community advocating urban
research and innovation. Members from different professions,
cities and regions share the same enthusiasm on cities and
exchange creative ideas on urban living.

By working collaboratively we aim to tackle with city’s complex issues, and open up the conversation for the public. With new tools in hands, we believe that cities are to be seen differently, in the way that is more sophisticated, intriguing, and humane. It is in cities that we learn, we engage, and we innovate.

Where it is :

International

Why it is relevant :

Data visualisations can be very useful to convey information and this collective has a very creative way to do that.

The focus on Taiwanese cities like Taitung and Taipei can provide us precious resources for our research and open this new possibility of visualisation.

https://ivc.city/project

Cases 41 Experts 11 Research 30 datavisualisation 1

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Anna Luz Joséphine Pueyo Kirwan December 1, 2019 11:12 pm *

Ann Chung’s independent rice flour factory

What it is:

In Taoyuan, we visited Ann, a middle-aged Taiwanese woman who told us about her projects in her four year-old rice transformation factory. The small factory is equipped with a high-tech milling machine coming from Japan, the secret of Ann and the biggest investment of her business.

Through processing rice into flour and derived products as pre-mixes, she collaborates with local farmers (providing them packaging and private labelling) and aims to educate Taiwanese people about the value of the rice culture, that got forgotten with the invasion of the wheat-based western culture. Her initiative started when she found out that her kids were reacting to gluten. Through rice processing, she wants to show how versatile and healthy rice-based baking can be and she already published a book of recipes, is currently giving cooking lessons and communicates regularly through her website.

Her process is very labor-intensive because everything is packaged manually but she employs local mothers and offers them working times suiting their need to go home to their children.

In the future, Ann plans to become a famous You Tube chef and to open her own bakery in the area, as well as maybe manufacturing frozen food to reach an other market. In the meantime, Ann sells all of her produce on her website because she doesn’t want to collaborate with supermarkets and their industrial mode. She believes that a shopfront is not necessarily needed anymore, also because of the expense that it represents for small businesses.

Ann is confident and believes that she should be honest with the customer to make them trust her more. She decided to stay in the city for convenience with her kids and because she doesn’t want to destroy farm land.

Where it is:

Taoyuan, Taiwan

Why it is relevant:

This case shows how the middle man, the processor of the food can have a double impact on the food chain because it connects with the consumer to educate and inspire as well as opening the opportunity for the farmers to choose healthier ways of producing and to increase the biodiversity thanks to a curated product range.

Cases 41 Research 30 education 5 entrepreneurship 1 foodprocessing 1

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Anna Luz Joséphine Pueyo Kirwan December 1, 2019 10:41 pm *

Food Forests in Hsinchu

What it is:

I visited three different food forests in Hsinchu before flying back. The city is located in the South-West of Taipei, close to the airport and not far from the sea. Its name “Hsin-chu” means “new-bamboo”, it used to be the land of many bamboo species. The city is one of the most prosperous in Taiwan because it is the place of production of many electronic devices (chips etc), so this richness makes it according to Claire, my guide, a successful place to implant food forests, because funding can be provided usually from those companies who are looking for “greenwash” strategies. She introduced me to the principle of a food forest, and the seven layers of vegetation necessary to imitate this ecosystem, as well as landscape design elements that would ease its maintenance.

Here is the manifesto for the Food Forest project.

More than half of the world population live in cities, and this number is expected to increase. Cities raise many environmental and social issues such as poor biodiversity, urban heat island effect, lack of resilience, food insecurity and many more. Our integrative solution is to build food forests in cities. A food forest is a sustainable design which mimics the ecosystem of a natural forest, with food production in mind. It started in Seattle, U.S. where people came up with the idea to build a food forest on a public lawn. We introduced the concept into Taiwan and built the first public food forest in Hsinchu where a partnership was created with the local government and community. Work parties and educational events are held to engage people in holistic learning and to share the harvest with all, including nature. Our solution has provided affordable healthy food for the community and demonstrates an ecosystem-based adaptation that can care for people and land at the same time.

Three food forests :

the first one was located in front of a residency for old people, that take good care of it but form a closed circle occupying this space, sometimes disrupted by school visits. A real pedagogic impact can be found there.
the second one was part of a sort of “village” funded by a local company, including a food forest, a restaurant, a plant shop and an occasional local market. The forest was very dry because of the lack of rain in the last months and of the bad management of volunteers. The ONG taking care of the Hsinchu food forests collapsed recently, leaving Claire without a job and the forest without a functioning management system. There would be an opportunity here for self-management of the citizens themselves, and that is what Claire believes will work in the future.
the third one was located very close to the Hsinchu High Speed Rail station. It was bigger and we arrived at the same time as a group of volunteers maintaining the area, which allowed me to see an other side of the network, led by students and middle-aged women. Part of the forest had been bought by a local company that has left it without any crops.

The biggest issue for Claire with food forests in Taiwan was that Taiwanese people were very focused on the aesthetic aspects and the ecological/social impacts of a food forest, and not so much on the perspective of food sufficiency.

Where it is:

Hsinchu, Taiwan

Why it is relevant:

These initiatives are in line with many STG goals and they could provide self-sufficiency for cities in the future, allowing consumers to avoid buying from corporate companies and control the origin of plant-based ingredients.

https://panorama.solutions/en/solution/urban-food-forest?fbclid=IwAR32uqTkDthOO3rEIRk_Bj2DRTEuA1uLED-RsUdkqdChqDdOvHkzu8Mj2D0

Cases 41 Research 30 ecosystem 1 foodforest 1 permaculture 2 self-sufficiency 1

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Anna Luz Joséphine Pueyo Kirwan December 1, 2019 10:39 pm *

Mrs Lin’s organic farm

What it is:

In the outskirts of Hualien, close to the mountains, we went to knock on the door of an independant couple of farmers, growing organically since 1993 in a region where everyone around them uses pesticides. They are 80% self-sufficient with their harvest but they don’t produce enough to really make a living out of this activity. They sell part of their harvest to local organic shops and markets. They are giving out the leftovers to charities and nursing homes. They consider farming more as a hobby, after they got fired from their job because they were too old.

Where it is:

Hualien, Taiwan

Why it is relevant:

These small-scale, family owned businesses can provide high quality products through an organic, slower process led by the old generation.

Cases 41 Research 30 familiy-owned 1 organic 3 small-scale 1

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Anna Luz Joséphine Pueyo Kirwan December 1, 2019 9:59 pm

Urban Farms in Taipei

What it is:

We came across few small urban farms/community gardens in Taipei or in Hualien.

Every time, we tried to interact with the people gardening there.

It was hard to understand the system precisely but in both cases, the people there (collecting Papayas, watering or maintaining) were volunteers (usually quite old) that were also neighbors, participating and collecting for themselves.

Those initiatives work like traditional herb/vegetable gardens and are different in that sense to food forests that reproduce the ecosystem of a forest.

In both cases, the land seemed to belong to the government and to be public.

Where it is:

Taipei, Taiwan & Suburban Area of Hualien

Why it is relevant:

In terms of social involvement of citizens, those initiatives show a real potential, as well as being a ressource for the area.

It would be interesting to know if it works the same in Germany.

Cases 41 Research 30 community 6 foodproduction 2 volunteer 2

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Anna Luz Joséphine Pueyo Kirwan December 1, 2019 9:09 pm *

Ferment the City

What it is :

I met three members of this collective during the workshop in Taipei. They had gathered in an abandoned house – rehabilitated into a restaurant by Taiwanese architects – to bake cookies and tempeh (an Indonesian fermented dish) with okara (the residues of Soy milk production, incredibly popular in Taipei and sold fresh amongst food stalls). They were planning to sell it on a local market that I will be mentioning in the post about food forests. Here is the manifesto of their work.

Ferment the City! is a group of people who share the common interest in fermentation and have practiced it in various ways as a natural process, which creates the conditions for good bacteria to interact, collaborate, multiply, and enhance the inherent nutritional value and taste of ingredients.
Most of them have experimented with kimchi, kombucha or ginger beer before and were all amazed by the capability of fermentation to turn organic (surplus) ingredients into delicious foods and beverages.

They bring “Ferment the City!” into being as an initiative to explore fermentation as a way to transform wastes into resources.

Ferment the City! 發酵城市 is supported by 2019 CREATORS program of the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) in Taipei.

I also have their contact if needed!

Where it is :

Taipei, Taiwan

Why it is relevant :

They are keen to further investigate biological fermentation for transforming and recycling organic wastes into new resources, such as fermented food, animal feed, compost, urban gardening, craft and building materials.

Their concept of “social fermentation” could also inspire many of us, as it symbolizes the slow process of collective ideas maturation to work towards positive futures.

Please listen to the videos if you are interested, they explain better than I do 🙂

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Y7An8s8n2kdRm-4ks_wAgoPCgQetNyiE

Cases 41 Experts 11 Research 30 fermentation 1 waste 3

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Anna Luz Joséphine Pueyo Kirwan December 1, 2019 8:34 pm *

Pierre Loisel, the canadian pionneer for Taipei’s compost system

What it is:

Pierre Loisel, a 70 year-old farmer from Quebec, living in Taiwan for more than 50 years that tells people everywhere they should eat healthy produce grown with kitchen scraps. He originated the collection system of organic waste of Taipei city twenty years ago.

He created a compost system for the city and built a farm based on this extremely rich compost. He lives in San Zhi in the north west on Taipei, I could not visit his farm because he is old now but his story is very inspiring and he offers a powerpoint presentation to understand the challenges of family-owned land in Taiwan. I have access to his contact if anyone is interested in the topic.

Where it is:

San Zhi, Taiwan

Why it is relevant:

This case is not very recent but it informs on this side of organic agriculture in the Taiwanese context. Loisel’s can be a good example to look at, and even to consult for our project if we intend to work along with the Taiwanese governement/ system.

“Organic farming is the future in agriculture … If developed into a field, it could be one of Taiwan’s biggest sources of income,” Loisel said. His method “revolutionary agriculture” is supporting that people should eat good food to stay healthy, adding that his produce, grown with kitchen scrap compost fertilizers, is unique.

“Chinese table scrap compost is the most nutritious in the world. The vegetables grown with it develop defensive capabilities against bugs. So there is less work with spraying pesticides, and the vegetables are healthier. Also, [though many say salt in the soil is a barrier] my compost has bacteria that takes salt and makes it accessible to plants,” Loisel said.

The net result, Loisel said, “is that I come up with a product unique to the world.”

“I want to increase the price for good quality produce in Taiwan, since Taiwanese are not paying enough for good quality” he said. In the organic market, the most expensive vegetables sell for NT$96 per 600g, but farmers would get about NT$48 out of that, he said, adding: “This is not enough to cover cost, especially if you take into consideration natural disasters like heat or typhoon.”

If the organic farmer cuts out the middleman and sells directly to customers as Loisel does, he can earn higher profits and maintain a buffer to stay honest without cheating with pesticides.“With my farming model, a couple can earn a good living … Farming is never easy, but it is not slave work,” Loisel said.

“This is sustainable farming — you pick up kitchen waste locally, compost it, and turn it into food,” he said.

To read the full article, this way!

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/09/30/2003424613?fbclid=IwAR3neE_Fsqs5iGy70S657xo3yUZuekaDDWR4wED8yBP9bf0Mv_MMBdVqo4k

Cases 41 Experts 11 Research 30 circular 1 compost 3 organic farming 2 Taiwan 2

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Clara Schmeinck November 27, 2019 3:59 pm *

“Bow to land” – Connection of farmers and consumers

What it is:

Rosita, the Director of the “Bow to land” system invites farmers to farmers markets in the city of Taipei where they can meet and connect to consumers who might be convinced of the quality and order their products again and receive them through the the post/courier.

Where it is:

Taipei, Taiwan

Why it is relevant:

It’s connecting farmer with the consumer and opening the opportunity for the farmer’s to sell directly to the consumer.

Cases 41 agriculture 4 CSA 1

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Food is increasingly getting on the agenda of design and designers. And there is need for new approaches!

In this international project, we will research and analyse structures and processes related to food production, distribution and consumption in (future) cities (Cologne/Taipei).

We will develop possibilities of future approaches, especially in the context of increasing digitization (AI, IoT, blockchain, traceability, bait to plate, farm to fork) – and question them critically.

How can we design a different relation to food, its ingredients and values, its production and culture, its habits and processes?
How can we create new relations and values to ingredients of food?
How can we connect (us to) different stakeholders, especially to build relations between farmer/producer and consumer.

A part of the project team – max. 6 students – will be able to work in Taipei for a week in November, supported by students from SCID Taipei and the project group in Cologne. Details will be clarified in the first project meeting.

In Cologne, we work together with local experts and stakeholders.

At the end of the semester, both the analysis and drafts / prototypes will be presented.

In the project we refer to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular to SDG 11 and 12. Due to the topic, it might be possible to submit the results to the Cumulus Green Award (and I will encourage and support you to do so).

We will approach the project by questions we want to explore. In the beginning, we will have the opportunity to find a huge variety of questions and then discuss them – amongst us and with others . in order to find out the most relevant ones. Relevant in terms of the need to approach them and relevant to approach them from the perspective of design.

Pre-meeting: if you have questions or want to make sure that you are really in the project – or want to influence the character of the project even before it started please try to join our pre-meeting on Thursday September 26 at 12.30

First official meeting: This is mandatory for all that want to join – it will be on Tuesday October 22 at 10.00. In this meeting I want to see what your specific interest in this project is – so please subscribe to this space, contribute with some relevant questions and maybe cases as well…

Regular meetings: The regular meetings are always on Tuesday at 10.00. As I mentioned due to some travel activities we won’t meet every Tuesday, but there will be weeks where we meet twice or longer during the Tuesday meeting. There is a GoogleDoc with all our meetings (always updated). If you are not available we can arrange to connect via zoom – but always let me know before.

Taiwan trip: the workshop in Taiwan is scheduled for November 18-23. The core group not traveling to Taipei will proceed meeting here and we will remotely collaborate via our KISDspace and zoom (see above).

We can learn a lot from existing cases and studies. Here we are collecting relevant cases how digitalisation influences and affects food farming, production, distribution and consumption. How farmers/producers are connected to consumers, the rural to the urban.

Cases are structured around 3 core questions: What it is, Where it is and Why it is relevant. In addition, cases have tags / keywords to made them more accessible and findable. It would be great to use the comment function about the use of cases to create additional information

Here we will collect interesting experts: individuals, organisations or initiatives who are doing something we consider valuable in the context of the project. They can be (preferrably) from the area Cologne or Taipei with the purpose to meet them for an interview, invite them for a talk or a workshop, or to go for a visit or a field trip.

This is the page where we share our digital communication – in this case video messages between Cologne and Taipei to figure out what’s the best way to keep in touch. And for live connections please use https://zoom.us/j/5505005500

Farmers Kitchen Hualien, Taiwan

InVisible Cities

Ann Chung’s independent rice flour factory

Food Forests in Hsinchu

Mrs Lin’s organic farm

Urban Farms in Taipei

Ferment the City

Pierre Loisel, the canadian pionneer for Taipei’s compost system

“Bow to land” – Connection of farmers and consumers

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