Looking at the “big food concept” from the perspective of nutrition buzzwords

Opening words: Food appreciation comes from the "History of the Purple Palace Gallery" by Yue Ke, a writer in the Song Dynasty, and is explained as "all kinds of delicacies". In the new era of healthy diet that practices the "big food view", the ancient "all kinds of colors" have been expanded and upgraded to a diverse and colorful variety, and written and spoken languages ​​prefixed with "food" are emerging in an endless stream. The survey found that readers are looking forward to more food science dissemination, food culture edification, and food fun sharing. Starting today, this newspaper specially launches the "Shan Food Appreciation" column by food culture expert Shan Shouqing, focusing on the "big food view" and the cooking words of "food appreciation" for readers.

In the new year, people's life consumption is full of "new" ideas. The "Top Ten Nutrition Hot Words of 2023" selected by the China Health Promotion and Education Association and other institutions were recently released, and "Big Food View" was on the list.

In 2015, the Central Rural Work Conference proposed to "establish the concept of big agriculture and big food"; in 2016, "establishing the concept of big food" was written into the Central Document No. 1 as an important part of promoting agricultural supply-side structural reform.

The people's food needs have become more diversified, which requires us to change our mindset and establish a big agriculture and big food concept, to demand calories and protein from cultivated land, grassland, forest, ocean, plants, animals and microorganisms, and to develop food resources in an all-round and multi-channel manner. Experts from various fields such as agriculture, food, and health generally believe that the introduction of the "big food concept" marks a strategic change in the concept of food security, and replacing "grain" with "food" is an expansion and upgrade of the traditional concept of "grain as the key link". We advocate the all-round and multi-channel development of food resources to ensure the effective supply of various types of food and meet the people's increasingly diversified food consumption needs.

The "big food concept" conforms to the trend of changes in the people's food structure and adheres to the concept of sustainable development. It forms a modern agricultural production structure and regional layout that adapts to market demand and matches the carrying capacity of resources and the environment, by producing grains where grains are suitable, producing crops where crops are suitable, producing livestock where livestock are suitable, producing fisheries where fisheries are suitable, and producing forests where forests are suitable, so as to form a modern agricultural production structure and regional layout that adapts to market demand and matches the carrying capacity of resources and the environment. It is necessary to promote the transformation of agriculture from "production-increasing orientation" to "quality-improving orientation", promote the cultivation of superior varieties, quality improvement, brand building and standardized production, and promote the transformation of agriculture from "supply-oriented" to "demand-oriented", and expand the space for multifunctional agriculture and value-added and efficiency-enhancing. Broaden your horizons and expand food sources in an all-round and three-dimensional manner. Strengthen the resilience of the food industry chain and supply chain, ensure that diversified food can be produced, supplied and delivered, and realize the transformation from "eating enough and eating well" to "eating nutritiously and eating healthily".

In recent years, various regions have seized new opportunities for food safety and health with a "big food concept", and have jumped out of the single planting of "one acre and three points of land", singing "forest and grass drama", reciting "Shan Hai Jing", playing "technology card", and taking multiple measures to make more natural resources produce more abundant food, filling "rice bags", "vegetable baskets", "oil cans", "meat jars" and "fruit plates". On the supply side, every effort is made to expand food sources, which not only meets the people's demand for "quantity", but also meets the people's pursuit of "quality", and guides residents to develop a healthy and economical food consumption concept from the perspective of nutritional balance.

To scientifically develop big food, we must have the ability to support scientific and technological innovation, focus on cultivating new varieties that are diversified, characteristic, and functional required for big food production, break through the technology of exploring and utilizing healthy food resources in different scenarios such as mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, break through the future artificial synthesis of emerging food development technology, and deeply develop "forest food", "grassland food", "ocean food", "desert food" and other food resources.

In 2023, the first Boao Healthy Food Science Conference conveyed the following message: endorsed by scientific evidence and empowered by scientific and technological achievements, more healthy foods will be seen, trusted and accepted. At the same time, Toutiao and China Food News Media Center jointly released the "Top Ten Food Internet Rumors of 2023", penetrating the fog, smashing online rumors such as "fake eggs", "pure synthetic fake milk", and "pectin is poisonous", and restoring the truth about food.

Technological innovation and popularization of science can be seen as the two wings of the innovative development of the "big food view". The popularization of food science and food technological innovation should be able to resonate at the same frequency.

(The author Shan Shouqing is the vice president of the Chinese Medicinal Diet Research Association and the chairman of the Food Science Creation Professional Committee of the Chinese Science Writers Association)