Producing rice, eating tradition? A multiscalar ricescape in Hong Kong

Abstract

ABSTRACT Hong Kong was not only a place where rice had been widely grown to support its own population, but had also once produced rice for overseas markets. However, rice production had declined rapidly since the 1960s and disappeared in the 1990s. Since the 2010s, there has been a reemergence of rice planting in Hong Kong carried out by conservationists, NGOs and individual farmers. In 2021, an heirloom rice cultivation campaign was launched by the Hong Kong government which further boosted local rice planting. Food growing is contingent on locations, yet, its symbolic meanings and signification often cross scales. This paper puts forward a multiscalar perspective of the recent ricescape, which involves overlapping socio spatial spheres, networking multiple actors, and creating multifarious interpretations of local rice. While this ricescape seems to entail converged efforts that revive the local rice identity and agricultural heritage, it has also contested the meanings of food localism in Hong Kong. We tap into the cross-scales of food movement at a time when there have been huge social rifts and interrogate the relations between rice heritage, rural conservation, and social identity and cohesion.