Study every day｜"Big food" supports "little happiness"

Tempting meat slices, delicious fish and shrimp, delicious mushrooms, green vegetables, rich fruits...the rich "sea, land and air" delicacies on the table reflect a beautiful life.

The dining table close by is not only a family matter, but also a state matter, and it is also a constant concern of General Secretary Xi Jinping.

He often mentioned a concept - the "big food concept": "Start from better meeting the people's needs for a better life, grasp the changing trend of the people's food structure, and ensure the supply of meat, vegetables, fruits, and aquatic products while ensuring food supply." When all kinds of food are effectively supplied, nothing will work without them.”

The formation of this concept can be traced back to the general secretary's work in the local area.

"When I was working in Fujian, I worked in mountainous areas and also along the coast. At that time, I proposed the big food concept. Meat, eggs, poultry, milk, fish, fruits, fungi, tea...these are all grains."

On July 19, 1989, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Ningde District Committee, and his party went to Xiadang Township, Shouning County for investigation.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Ningde's economic aggregate ranked last in Fujian Province and was commonly known as the "Nineth Laojiu in Eastern Fujian". In less than three months after Xi Jinping took office in such an underdeveloped coastal area with "old, young, remote, poor", he visited 9 counties in eastern Fujian, and later visited most of the towns.

There is no vast and fertile black land, nor is it the land of plenty in the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, the per capita possession of grain in eastern Fujian was lower than the level of the entire province. The food and clothing problem of some farmers has not yet been solved, and they are still living a life of "depending on resale of food".

After in-depth investigation, Xi Jinping was deeply impressed by Fujian's regional characteristics and resource advantages of "eight mountains, one water and one farmland". He advocated stabilizing food supply, focusing on mountains and seas, developing township enterprises, and comprehensively developing agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production, and fishery.

"In the past, the grain we talked about was only narrowly understood as rice, wheat, corn and other grass crops. Now we talk about grain as food, and the concept of big grain has replaced the old concept of taking grain as the key link." From the book "Eradicating Poverty" This passage expresses Xi Jinping’s thoughts on the “big food concept”.

To solve the problem of eating, we should not just focus on the limited cultivated land, but open our minds and ask for food from forests, rivers, lakes and seas, and from rich biological resources. This is not only to solve the problem of "eating well" under limited resources, but also to meet the national needs of "eating well and eating healthily".

"So, I proposed to build 'Marine Fuzhou' and 'Maritime Fujian' successively." "We should attach importance to sea areas as we attach importance to cultivated land, focus on ocean development as we focus on food production, and extend the tentacles of accelerating economic development from land to sea."

On March 20, 2024, in Ningde City, Fujian Province, fishermen drove a breeding boat to conduct sea cucumber breeding operations in the fishing raft breeding demonstration area of ​​Qixing Village, Xinan Town, Xiapu County.

Xi Jinping learned from the "Funing Prefecture Chronicle" that there is a Guanjing Yang in Xiapu's Sandu'ao waters that is rich in large yellow croaker, so he promoted scientific research on large yellow croaker, solved the technical problems of artificial breeding, and started the first artificial breeding of large yellow croaker in Ningde.

Today, the large yellow croaker in Eastern Fujian has become the largest marine fish species in my country and one of the eight most advantageous export aquaculture products. Over 80% of the country’s large yellow croaker is produced in Ningde.

If cultivated land cannot be provided, forests can be provided. In "The revitalization of Eastern Fujian lies in "forests" - a strategic issue in the economic development of Eastern Fujian", Xi Jinping pointed out that "forests are reservoirs, money warehouses and grain depots".

In Fujian, people make full use of the three-dimensional forest space to develop the under-forest economy, keep bees, raise poultry, plant Chinese medicinal materials, and cultivate edible fungi, creating a natural "green food factory." In 2023, the economic utilization area under forest in Fujian Province will exceed 30 million acres, and the output value will exceed 80 billion yuan.

More than 30 years ago, Xi Jinping used the "big grain concept" to explain the change in agricultural development concepts. Today, China’s economic and social development has undergone tremendous changes, and General Secretary Xi Jinping’s thinking on the big food concept has become more profound.

“People’s food needs have become more diversified, which requires us to change our mindset.” In December 2017, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed at the Central Rural Work Conference that we need calories and protein from cultivated land, grasslands, forests and oceans, and from plants, animals and microorganisms. Develop food resources in an all-round way.

From December 23 to 24, 2022, the Central Rural Work Conference was held in Beijing.

At the Central Rural Work Conference in 2022, the General Secretary explained more vividly that "eating" is not just about consuming food. Everything such as meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables, fish, mushrooms and bamboo shoots are delicacies, and emphasized the need to "eat" Build a diversified food supply system.”

From the Northeast Forest Sea to the Loess Plateau, from the Qinba Mountains to the Wumeng Mountains, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited planting and breeding bases time and time again to inspect "big food" and care about the people's "happiness on the tip of the tongue."

While looking at marine aquaculture on Donghai Island in Guangdong, he talked about how important it is to improve the physical fitness of our people and increase aquatic products and protein.

When a guest in Guangxi inspected the sugar production process, he told the employees that sugar is an important non-staple food, and everyone has worked hard for it, delivering "sweetness" to thousands of households.

While looking at vegetables in greenhouses in Yudu County, Jiangxi Province, he held the hands of villagers and said: "What the Party Central Committee wants to do is to do everything possible to let the people live a good life."

From forests to oceans, the breadth of "big food" continues to expand; from crops to microorganisms, the variety of "big food" continues to increase. The small dining table has quietly changed. Staple food is not "main" and non-staple food is not "auxiliary". Meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables, fungi, aquatic products, etc. are becoming the "main theme" on the dining tables of urban and rural residents.

In the early days of reform and opening up, 80% of people's food was staple food. A bowl of rice with a little pickles, a little chili, or even soy sauce mixed with rice was a complete meal. Nowadays, it is normal to eat a small bowl of rice and a few dishes every day.

Three meals a day, firewood, rice, oil and salt. On the basis of ensuring food rations, the food categories will be more abundant, the food structure will be more optimized, and the food supply will be more secure. The "big food concept" will firmly support the happiness on the tip of the people's tongue.

Proofreading丨Liu Zhen, Sun Jie, Song Chunyan, Li Yingzhuo, Lou Hao