- Sophie
Food - the exhibition that should make you salivate…
Being a big vino I am also super interested and curious about food.
How you make it, how does it taste and how can I get more of it? I am also obsessed with Chefs and the art of the table. I see eating as a sensory experience and an artistic moment that can raise you above the ordinary.
On the other side, I have recently met Emma (IG: Emmaeatandexplores) who was diagnosed with the condition of Lupus and she revealed that changing her nutrition helped her to avoid rashes… after all we eat minimum of 3 times a day and we can control our intake. Would it be choices related to health or beliefs (religion, veganism..) it’s a powerful tool we can use to improve our daily life. Eating fresh food, more vegetables, or simply food that we can actually understand when reading the back label… all these small things make a difference on our level of energy, body and health.
Back to our exhibition, It started with Composting. It was not what I was expecting! If you think about food, you don’t think first about what your food will become, and this is probably the less appetizing part of the exhibition.
However, it was interesting to see what can be done with used and pressed coffee. It’s still has a lot of nutrients so comestible oyster mushrooms can grow on it.
Another interesting thing was the plates, cups and materials that can be created from cow manure. An Italian artist created the shit museum and created a specific terracotta which was mixed with manure… appetizing isn’t it?
After that unappealing but yet useful composting cycle of food, farming came in action.
Farming didn’t really catch my attention. It was basically what you see everywhere about the negative effect of over farming or the misleading representations of amazing landscapes and nature where our products will come from.
Videos about a pig and his life cycle from birth to the slaughter house. Information about the danger of extinction or disappearance of bees.. again nothing you have not heard of. What caught my attention were some bones of organic versus industrial chicken and their ashes... the colour, the quality everything was different and made you realise what you get when you spend less.
An artist created the perfect chicken to answer the high demand for chicken tight... basically a genetically modified 6 feet chicken! Of course, it was all rather a sarcastic take on this trend.
Maybe I didn’t dig deep enough but I was expecting to see some ideas or answers about the future of farming. Are we heading towards a back to the roots trend and aiming for everything natural? If so would science and technology help us to achieved that thanks to a better understanding of land, climate, growing season etc. well it wasn’t addressed as I would have expected. Maybe I am watching too many sci-fi movies but I would have loved to imagine the super food of the future!
Finally, the Eating part! Some very nice pictures of Instagram and cakes design open this side of the exhibition. It’s soon followed the fermenting with jars of kimchi.
again nothing ground breaking and after that a rather gross project: cheese made of human bacteria as a starter. Chef’s been using their own body bacteria like their pubic hair to make cheese. Interesting project but not really mouth-watering I reckon!
Some projects were rather fun and interesting like the food truck “food from the enemy” basically a food truck selling Iraqi food to American domestically during the war with Irak.
There wasn’t much about conviviality around food and how it brings people together besides a documentary over a crowd of protesters breaking fast during protests in Istanbul. Nothing about studies showing people who eat with friends or family are in better health and live longer.
Nothing about the impact of royal courts and birth of local gastronomies
Nothing about traditions and the role of the woman – traditionally the cook
Nothing about the super food trend or even avocado…Did I miss that?
Nothing about wine! Because food taste always better with a glass!
£17 for this exhibition seems a bit punchy… I imagine I could have spent that very £17 on a nice dish in a London restaurant and enjoying my friend’s conversation rather than seeing pubic hair made cheese… but if that’s your cup of tea, go for it!
Have a great week end everyone!!!