Wanlin Lu

Wanlin (Mia) Lu is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at SOAS, University of London.

She holds a master's degree in Anthropology of Food at SOAS, University of London. Her current research focuses on the changing foodways of the new generation of Chinese immigrants in London.
 During her 12 months of fieldwork in London, she explores how migration, economic reform, and technology encourage new practices and meanings of eating while preserving old eating habits and food-related memories.

This project aims to document and understand the life transformation of an ignored group of overseas Chinese born after the opening-reforming policy, through the lens of food. Her interests include food and agriculture, migration, transnationalism, modernity and China studies.  


Prior to SOAS, Wanlin was a communications manager at Bits x Bites, China’s pioneer food-tech venture capital investing in start-ups tackling global food system challenges. She started her career in the good food movement as a communications lead at Rice Harmony, a Chinese social enterprise focusing on sustainable agriculture. Rice Harmony works with small-scale farmers in participatory guarantee systems—an alternative to organic certification to enable all stakeholders to actively engage in producing safe, healthy and sustainable food.     In her spare time, Wanlin is also a contributor to food-related media. Additionally, She is proficient in several languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Chaozhou dialect.

Food and Agriculture, Migration, Transnationalism, Lerisure, Consumption, China.