Voyage of the Little Gum(2025)

Amid the hustle and bustle of city life, we often lose sight of life’s true essence in the midst of our busyness. At some point, I began to examine the relationship between the healthiness of my food and the condition of my own body.

My gaze fell upon those overly perfect tangerines, their skins smooth and flawless, as if meticulously carved; then I looked at the slightly “ugly” ones, with their uneven, pitted skins, and a ripple of emotion stirred within me. I asked myself: In this world, what can I truly leave behind, and what can I change? Pondering day and night in the library, a Zen story cut through my repetitive, meaningless thoughts, offering an answer through action: Eat well, sleep well, and chew this very mandarin orange before me.

In October 2024, I had a bittersweet farm experience at Guangxi Baicao Garden, living for two weeks with ecological farmer Yan Ping and food forest builder Liu Heng. I long to share this little story with you—the details of my two stays in the orchard—an experience that completely transformed my understanding of the body and food.
In Hong Kong, this fast-paced city, the question of whether to stay or leave has become a constant source of reflection.

Today, AI is infiltrating our work at an unprecedented pace. While it may efficiently handle many tasks, for the land, acceleration is not the key to growth. All things in nature have their own rhythm of growth, requiring time to settle and be nourished. We, living in the real world, possess unique physical bodies—something cold machines can never have. So, what is the best food? The answer lies right before our eyes at this very moment.

As Thich Nhat Hanh writes in Savor:
“Mindful eating means simply eating or drinking while being aware of each bite or sip.”

Focus on the food in the present moment, chew mindfully, and be fully present with each bite.