Food's disappearing community

She explains that this trend of "passive choices about food" leads to many overlooked issues, including the decline of community life as farmers' markets are replaced by online food delivery platforms, flavor loss in vegetables and meat, and the persistence of stereotypes about food and cuisines, which result in dishes that are excessively salty or spicy. Additionally, this trend contributes to increasingly monotonous lifestyles that revolve primarily around work.

Based on her years of observation, Chen wrote the book Who Decides What to Eat, published in June and now one of the 10 most popular nonfiction Chinese books of 2025 on the review platform Douban.

In the book, Chen uses 18 articles, categorized into three sections, to examine different aspects of food in modern society — "Food is not just food"; "Rebuild relationships through food"; and "Starting with food: Eating can be more important".

In the section "Food is not just food", Chen writes about how scallions in Beijing are different from those in her hometown in Hunan province; how, in her memory, tomatoes taste so different now; how people who favor aesthetics change the flavor of food; and how fast-paced, efficiency-oriented modern life makes it difficult for people to eat fresh food in big cities.

In the second section, she writes about people's relationship with food and relationships built around food and cooking. The third section focuses on what people have ignored and sacrificed in eating.

An online user nicknamed Justin Yan on Douban says in a comment: "The book takes us on a journey from small towns to big cities, from childhood to the present, highlighting how changes in social and living environments, as well as advancements in fresh food cold chain technology, have influenced what we eat every day. This perspective on life is both novel and intriguing."