The possibilities and layers of complexity embodied in food throughout human development cannot be underestimated. On on hand, food and food production has constructed a system that underlies taste, cultural memory, and historical movements; on the other hand, the correlation between food and geography provides offers an opportunity to examine human behavior and social transformation.

This inaugural issue of te adopts Ye Wuji's "The Lost Society" as a central theme. The term "lost" means ephemeral silence and enfeeblement rather than disappearance and extinction—and suggests cultures that dissipate temporarily while others evolve. Food happens to witness these transitions, and the word "society" refers to a collective destiny. In this issue, te invited 13 creative practitioners of different disciplines to reflect upon their respective expertise, knowledge systems and research trajectories from and in anthropology, sociology, and contemporary art—to explore food as a multi-faceted intricacy. These speculations simultaneously reconstruct the relationship between food and geography.

With contributions from Mary Jean Chan, Cao Yu, Tang Han, Zhou Xiaopeng, Wolfgang Tillmans, Felix Ho Yuen Chan, Yia Vang, Alvin Luong, Ye Wuji, Elia Nurvista, and Gu Tao.

Edited by Michael Guo and Kechun Qin

Designed by Can Yang

Published by te magazine
Bilingual, in Chinese and English

Softcover, 160 pages, hectograph printed with thread binding, 7.4 × 10.25 inches

ISBN 978-1-7368389-8-3