EcoHowFun Sustainable Food Design Conference Held in Shanghai
Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research (TASA), together with Shanghai International Hospitality Equipment & Foodservice Expo (HOTELEX Shanghai), held EcoHowFun Sustainable Food Design Conference (hereinafter referred to as the “Conference”) at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from March 30 to April 2, 2025. Guided by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, and co-organized by the China Tourist Hotel Association and Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co., Ltd., HOTELEX Shanghai is one of the three flagship events prioritized during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Covering an area of 400,000 square meters and involving over 3,000 exhibitors, HOTELEX Shanghai 2025 comprehensively showcased the entire supply chain of the hospitality and foodservice industry and attracted more than 300,000 professional visitors for trade exchanges, thereby establishing itself as a more open and efficient global platform for the foodservice industry.
Themed on “Growth · Sustainability,” EcoHowFun Sustainable Food Design Conference in Shanghai this year provided a platform to share the world’s most advanced food concepts and ideas to envision future food trends and promote the healthy development of the entire food industry. By integrating agriculture, food processing, and foodservice industries, the Conference brought together experts from diverse fields such as industry, technology, and design for collaboration and innovation, where they used food as a medium to influence and transform society, inspire human thought, and enhance social well-being. Through high-quality contents such as fair, forum, and art exhibition, the Conference aimed to raise public awareness of a green, symbiotic, and naturally progressive future food ecosystem while stimulating diverse perspectives and reshaping sustainable concepts for the future.
I. EcoHowFun Market
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), which emerged abroad in the 1970s, refers to an economic partnership between consumers seeking safe food and farmers capable of providing organic produce. CSA represents a socialized form of ecological agriculture, whose inherent ecological diversity includes cooperative alliances between urban residents and farmers. This is an innovative approach to China’s modern ecological agriculture. As early as in 2003, Professor WEN Tiejun, a renowned Chinese economist and an expert in China’s research on “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers,” began constructing a rural-urban mutual aid model for agricultural product sales. In 2024, Dr. SHI Yan, Co-Chair of the International CSA Alliance and Director of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Network, along with representatives of consumers and producers, signed an agreement to create a public brand called “EcoHowFun” and build a trusted platform for production-marketing collaboration and shared benefits.
As the chief curator of the Conference, CHI Wei from the Food Design Studio at TASA collaborated with Dr. SHI Yan to introduce EcoHowFun to an international large-scale expo for the first time, creating a distinctive exhibition within an exhibition. It served as a vivid demonstration of the integration of agriculture, food processing, and foodservice industries for collaborative innovation. With a forward-looking perspective, the Conference showcased how China’s transitioning agricultural food system—represented by new farmers, ecological agriculture, and CSA principles—will profoundly influence and reshape modern food processing and traditional foodservices, and play a pivotal role in a design-driven future food system.
Over 80 new farmers participated in EcoHowFun Market. Through a meticulously designed “Earth”-themed venue featuring booth area and performance stage, exhibitors presented their products and stories via product displays, speeches, and performances. EcoHowFun Market received widespread acclaim at the HOTELEX Shanghai, becoming a popular “social media landmark.” Visitors experienced the appeal of fair trade and witnessed new farmers writing a new chapter for agriculture through ecologically sustainable practices. Also, by leveraging the global influence of HOTELEX Shanghai, it showcased the vitality and responsibility of China’s new farmers to the world, fostering the flourishing development of ecological industries.
II. Sustainable Food Design Forum
If EcoHowFun Market served as a way to communicate with domestic consumers face-to-face through grassroots interaction, the Forum elevated the discourse to an academic level by integrating global perspectives and ideas. This year’s Forum was themed “Holistic Growth.” As a multidimensional international food event dedicated to leadership, innovation, dialogue, and inspiration, the Forum brought together cross-industry experts to share cutting-edge insights and global knowledge, construct fresh perspectives, spark innovative energy, explore future trends, and meaningfully contribute to shaping a sustainable and naturally progressive food social system.
At the EcoHowFun Sustainable Design Forum , WEN Tiejun introduced a system for food safety standards for CSA—Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). LOU Yongqi explained the cycle of “Design Harvest,” while LIU Guanzhong elaborated on the logic of design and “new quality productive forces” in an easy-to-understand manner. SHI Yan shared the story of China’s ecological public brand EcoHowFun, and CHI Wei systematically presented how food design contributes to sustainability. HE Songfei, LI Guoping, FAN Chun, LIU Guoshuo, and HU Haiqing also delivered speeches, respectively, covering topics such as Chinese food design from a sustainable perspective, exclusive domain of hot-selling products (the ultimate law for sustainable growth of quality food), design thinking driving food innovation, process design for agriculture-food integration, and branding (appeal enhancement of food design). A roundtable discussion featuring four new farmer representatives addressed practical challenges in ecological product sales channels.
the EcoHowFun Sustainable Design Forum Speaker
At the Dietary Transformation · Sustainable Food Design Forum, QIN Yulong, as the forum organizer and convener, delivered the opening remarks. CHI Wei started with presentation on Food Design System and Enterprise Growth, followed by HAN Ting’s speech on design management and experience design. YANG Min shared insights on food education, GUO Xueqian focused on food flavors, and FU Jiong specialized in design—ethnic design language and trends. In addition to these academic leaders, industry pioneers such as SUN Guomin, ZHANG Yunping, and GUO Peng contributed insightful speeches on topics including brand rejuvenation through category innovation and growth, food design for waste reduction and cost efficiency, and sustainable food branding. As the final speaker, JIANG Tong shared an overview and the significance of “Mobile Table,” a project from the Food Design Studio at TASA.
the Dietary Transformation · Sustainable Food Design Forum Speaker
III. Art Exhibition: When Food Meets Technology and Science
The UMR Interactive Digital Content and Market Collaboration Exhibition created by TASA became a highlight during the event. The exhibition amplified the interactive experience of art, technology, and food. Equipped with smart wearables and MR technology, visitors immersed themselves in embodied AI-driven future lifestyle aesthetic. Within this dynamic and hyperreal sensory environment, they reconsidered the notions of sensory and existential “authenticity” in a fully digitized, simulated landscape society, where design diffused and generated immediate bodily experiences through food. Visitors were not merely perceivers but co-creators of the experience—through interactive operations, they shaped their own perceived metaverse space.
Titled “Food as Body: Sensory Body, Intelligent Technology, Natural Ecosystem, and Food Reshaping Existence Through Resonance and Reverberation,” the exhibition explored how, in a future society built on comprehensive virtual telepresence, physical “reality” faces extinction, and food design is reconstructing possibilities for “life authenticity” and reconnecting humans with natural ecology with food systems as a medium. The core artwork You Smell Delicious established social connections through scent, creating an interactive space bonded by non-gustatory senses. On-site MR installations showcased future metaverse living aesthetics, where human connections naturally flourish under the guidance of olfactory cues in this hyperreal sensory fantasy. Curated by the “Mobile Table Art” Development Department of the Food Design Studio at TASA, the exhibition featured artists BA Ruiyun, a faculty member of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and SU Yongjian, a faculty member of Beijing Film Academy.
At a highly mature, professional, and market-driven global catering expo, the EcoHowFun Sustainable Food Design Conference planned and presented by TASA stood out for its innovative significance. First, EcoHowFun Market marked the first large-scale encounter between international concepts and localized practices for mainstream consumers, offering a fresh direction for the catering industry while serving as a pivotal practice in China’s transitioning food system. Second, the Sustainable Food Forum delved into the integration of agriculture, food processing, and foodservice industries and provided theoretical references for breakthroughs in food processing and foodservices from the agricultural origin. Its forward-thinking concept of the integration of agriculture, food processing, and foodservice industries merged China’s catering modernization with contemporary “sustainability,” carrying profound implications. Third, by centering on food and integrating cutting-edge technology through artistic exhibitions at a top-tier commercial Expo, TASA achieved an innovative breakthrough through practice of its ethos of “Innovation, Art, and Technology.”
