China’s food system has transformed rapidly over the past several decades. This has increased the country’s food supply but also created growing public health and environmental risks, says Jian Yi, Founder of the nonprofit Good Food Fund.
“In China, we’ve been favoring ultra-processed products over whole foods. That has a huge public health impact,” Yi says in the Food 2050 film, which premieres January 2026 in partnership with Media RED, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Food Tank. “We here in China have consumed way more meat than is healthy for us, or healthy for the ecological system. The sheer size of China means that that overconsumption of meat has a huge environmental footprint and public health impact.”
Today, more than 23 percent of China’s 1.4 billion population is estimated to have cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure. Mama’s Kitchen, a Good Food Fund project that was named a Rockefeller Foundation Top Food System Visionary in 2020, aims to help reverse these trends. It helps reconnect people with food that is healthier for both people and the planet. The organization promotes plant-forward diets rooted in culinary tradition, ecological farming, and community education.
“A dramatic shift to more plant-based or plant-forward diets will see a major improvement of public health…animal welfare…and planetary health,” says Yi.
But Yi emphasizes that the project is not about eliminating meat entirely: “We don’t want people thinking that we are promoting vegetarianism. There might still be meat on your plate, but it is playing a secondary role.”
For Yi, change starts in the kitchen. He says it is not just a place for cooking but a bridge between nature, culture, and daily life.
“For a long time we’ve been disconnected with food, how food is produced, who produced it, how it came to our dinner table…How can we redefine the role of the kitchen in our family, in our communities, in our country, in our world?” says Yi.
Mama’s Kitchen brings eaters to ecological farms to “start from the source,” says Wu Hongping, Founder of Veggie Ark Farm in Dali, Yunnan, China. Participants learn directly from farmers and nutritionists about how the food is grown and its human and environmental health impacts. Then, they enjoy a chef-prepared, plant-forward meal with the farm’s produce.
“A truly delicious…nutritionally balanced, healthy meal has the power to touch people’s hearts,” says Melinda Hou, Executive Director of the Good Food Fund. “By the end of the event, people usually walk away with a much deeper understanding of healthy and sustainable eating.”
Yi and Hou say that restaurants are key partners in making this connection from farm to plate. Chef Lee, Founder and Head Chef at Xiao Lou, a plant-forward restaurant in Dali, interacts with local producers daily at the market to purchase fresh produce for his menu. Earlier in his career, he would have only cared about the flavors of his food, he says. But after working with Mama’s Kitchen, he sees the power of chefs to build connections with nature—especially by educating eaters.
“This journey has completed me as a person,” says Chef Lee. “As a chef, we must find a way to cook plant-based ingredients deliciously.”
Since winning the Food System Visionary Prize, Mama’s Kitchen has seen attitudes and habits shift within communities. “At the beginning, acceptance [of plant-forward diets] was usually quite low,” says Hou. But through tasting experiences and hands-on learning, participants became curious and began making changes, including practices like Meatless Monday.
“Over the past two years, we’ve truly witnessed the transformation,” says Hou.
Ultimately, Mama’s Kitchen positions everyday food choices as a pathway to global change. “You can start from this small place called the Kitchen,” Yi says. “That thing can actually bring meaningful change…to humanity.”
In 2050, Yi envisions a Chinese food system rooted in care and connection, where vegetables are a staple in every diet. Given the scale of China’s economy, this brings Yi hope for positive global change.
“We have a lot of hope that, if we can bring even some small changes in the food system in China, it will be translated into really meaningful changes, globally,” says Yi.
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