Last Thursday evening Mood Food opened its doors to the movers and shakers of Yangshuo, in a fantastic event that involved great food, great conversation… and a whole load of dirt.
We started with a buffet that featured all of the Mood Food team’s star dishes (there are a lot) and a fantastic documentary called ‘Dirt!’, which brings to life the 
environmental, economic, social and political impact that soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil. Highly recommended!
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the key event of the night was a brilliant talk by Natural Building Architect Fredrik Dolmans. Currently based in Beijing, Fredrik has worked all over the globe, focusing on the development of buildings that use local natural resources and respect the particular ecosystem of an area. Over the past few years, he has run workshops all over China. Fredrik is passionate about teaching people how to adapt building techniques to their particular environment, and is even helping communities re-discover old building methods that were close to being forgotten.
Thursday’s talk was highly inspirational, and it was great to see so many people, both Chinese and foreigners, so enthusiastic about the topic of Natural Building. There were plenty of questions to be answered after Fredrik had finished, and the talking went on 
into the small hours of the morning.
The evening had such a fantastic atmosphere, and there was a real buzz of excitement in the air. So to everyone who came… thank you!
As well as organising the event, Fredrik has also been a part of the Wandering Dao team over the past few weeks, helping take our Community Project to the next level. What were previously just ideas are becoming real plans and drawings. Another step in the journey!
After the success of Thursday, we are planning to host events such as these more frequently. Follow us on Facebook or Wechat for updates.
If you would like more information on the Community Project, or are interested in getting involved, contact us.