Edible Dramas -- Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida

Commercial food photographers Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida took their subjectmatter a whole new level, literally! Using humorous and delicious looking backgrounds, the couple created dioramas of miniature people going about their daily lives in an edible world. The photographers have been working on the MINIMIAM since 2002. The project will featured at the International Agriculture Show in Paris this February.

Food Fight Documentary

Chris Taylor's documentary Food Fight is a  paean to Alice Waters, Chez Panisse Cafe founder and advocate of the local, small scale food movement.  This history and critique of our current industrial, monocultural, commodity, Big Ag industry is told through interviews with a wide variety of participants including:

Marion Nestle - Food Politics, Professor of Nutrition NYU

Ellen Haas - Undersecretary of Agriculture l993-7, Foodfit.com

Tom Philpott, Mother Jones, Boone, NC

Russ Parsons, LATimes food/wine critic

Representative Ron Kind -  Wisconsin

Will Allen - Growing Power, Wisconsin and Illinois 

and most inspiring for us, The Edible Schoolyard Project, represented by Kyle Cornforth.

along with organic farmers, restauranteurs, food activists and the ubiquitous Michael Pollan.  All are dedicated to rebuilding the food chain, citing distribution, not production as the main impediment to a healthier population.

Going deeper: 

GMO labeling 

Kind-Flake Amendment and the 2014 Farm Bill provides interesting links to the government subsidy stats

Charles Lane, Editor, Washington Post, on the Farm Bill  and  Food Stamps

A Delectable Evening of Imperfection (to honor Martha Wilson)

We attended this delicious evening where art and food combined...

An account the chef/artist Ame from her blog: Food Poetics

http://foodpoetics.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-delectable-evening-of-imperfection-to.html

                                

This past June I had the honor of staging a dinner at the Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee Wisconsin, one of several events fêting artist Martha Wilson. Along with a touring retrospective at another gallery, this smaller show, “The Personal is Political” included contemporary Wilson photographs in one room, and two rooms with regional artists presenting pieces made in response to Martha’s influential work. The show’s title refers to a 1970’s postmodern Feminist slogan that pointed to domestic space and the body as sights of both empowerment and contention. Now-a-days, as Deb Brhemer the director of the gallery points out, the phrase is "more likely associated with the locavore movement, and resistance to fossil fuel consumption." 

Wilson is the founding director of The Franklin Furnace, a preeminent alternative artspace in NYC that has, for the past 35 years fostered performance and installation art (my own work included) as well as an artist’s book archive that is now co-housed in the Museum of Modern Art. Martha’s own art work, starting from the 1970’s has explored how women’s identities are shaped by cultural forces, power relationships, and now, aging. In photo, video and live performances Wilson has created role-playing self-portraits; the femme fatale, the butch, the bitch, the business exec to name a few, or staged pictures of herself bruised, as a man, or old when she was young; posturing or transforming one way or other. 

Martha is a friend, mentor, and a champion (the one and only piece of art I ever sold, a series of six framed prints about HIV, she purchased) so it was a great pleasure to look through her archives in search of images and ideas as I planned the event. It was fun, almost triumphant returning to Milwaukee where I'd lived for 9 long years, and none too happy ones. Deb Brehmer, who opened PSG after I left, was and is a good friend, and coming back to present a performance felt exciting. 

I decided on a three-course meal- one for each of the gallery’s rooms, and teased out themes from Martha’s work for each setting. It was a feat, working long distance with Deb, arranging for tables and waiters and wine. I did some of the cooking in Bklyn before jumping on a plane carrying a suitcase full of ingredients I was afraid I wouldn’t readily find in Milwaukee, then camped in a friends kitchen to prepare the rest. The gallery has no kitchen so we borrowed hot plates from an old catering buddy and dishes from an artist who’s made his home into a museum of collections. We poured over literally hundreds of plates and bowls to pick out a glorious assortment of mismatched chipped china, silver and crystal and torn and stained linens to set the tables for what was to become “A Delectable Evening of Imperfection.”  

                   

Guests gathered in the vestibule for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; tiny bite-sized gems of color and taste: crostini of fava and pea puree, wild mushrooms, and colorful vegetable brunoise sprinkled over roasted garlic butter served by three waiters costumed in Martha persona drag.

First Course: Imperfection

Here we set a long narrow table with seats for 26 guests. Down the center was a still life of unusual 

fruits and vegetables; puckered, thorny, oddly colored specimens (yucca, calabaza, chayote, purple 

asparagus…) interspersed with candelabras. Pink crystal water glasses and goblets filled with rose’ cast 

refractions of pale pink light on elegantly laid chipped china and battalions of tarnished silver.  

Waiters now in neutral black wore a changing display of cut-out Martha masks to serve a salad of foraged

watercress and hand picked local greens, shriveled tomatoes and toasted pepitas, alongside a vegetarian tamale (made locally by Mamasita's) with raw tomatillo salsa and pan seared shishito peppers.

Both food and setting played with surfaces masking delectable insides, a matter of disparity between presentation and value. 

before each course I came out wearing a mask of myself and explained what the guests were about to eat.

                                                   2nd Course: Transformation in Multiple Plates

                             Deconstructed Miso

In the next gallery guests were seated at small tables lined with layers of butcher paper, newsprint and pages from the arts section of the New York Times. On each table was a shiso plant (carried from my garden in Bklyn) with a pair of scissors, a dried shitake mushroom with a small hand grater, and a bowl of nori flakes with serving tweezers. Each place was set with a Chinese soupspoon and a bowl containing a schmear of blonde miso, tofu cubes and scallion greens. 

Now the waiters wore double masks (side to side or front to back.) Martha diptychs of contrasting images. Martha made up as Bill Clinton and Bill Clinton himself, a reflection on the double standards of attractiveness for aging men and women. Martha's torso 30 years apart. Ditto with her profile.  The waiters made the rounds, first pouring kombucha or beer, then dashi into the bowls so guests could stir miso soup, adding snippets and flakes from the tables' condiments.  When the soup dishes were cleared waiters bundled the top layer of paper table covering and began filling clear blue recycle bags with the discards.

Second small plate: sambal egg with green papaya salad served on compostable dishes. Again the waiters gathered the top layer of table covering.  

Small plate three: sushi rice with black sesame and homemade pickles (wild ramp, hakurei turnips, green daikon…) and again the bundling of disposables.

Small plate four: cheeses and dried fruit. 

                                                                       

Each of these courses represented different transformations: 

Fermentation (bacterial transformation.) 

Pickling (a form of preservation.)                                                         Drying/dehydrating.                                                                                                       Eggs.                                                                                                      Cheese (an enzymatic transformation of liquid into solid employing chemical agents and time.)                                                                                                So too kombucha and beer.  

So too, the accumulation of recyclables now strewn about the floor. 

Between plates Deb invited the artists with work on display to speak about the ways their work had been influenced by Martha's. There was a push to explore the legacy of feminism which is currently, mistakenly brushed aside as being no longer relevant. Contradicting this trend is Martha’s newest work with its insistence on calling attention to the aging feminine body, so often disparaged or ignored.

Guests were invited into the next room for course three: Reflect/Reveal.

                                      

No tables or chair for this course. Milling about guests were served cake and ice cream on mirrored plates, and a ceramic mug of sparkling wine. Decaled onto the mugs (for sale in the gallery gift shop) was a reproduction of Martha's "Marge, Martha, Mona."

This piece pictured Martha, enigmatically smiling under a towering blue bouffant, positioning herself within the cannons of art smack dab centered between high and low. For service, the waiters donned appropriate wigs and smiles.

The cake, a moist Ottolenghi Orange Almond Upside Down Cake used fruit that needed peeling and nuts needing cracking and I liked that these actions; the peeling and cracking were about revealing inner goodness. I liked that it was an upside down cake; a topsy turvy change of perspective is always revealing. The ice cream, a rich vanilla was served with a drizzle of fruity olive oil and sea salt. For me, this combination is a revelation, an unusual pairing of ingredients that transcends expectation. The guests were left holding mirrors, hopefully used to look upon themselves with the same gentle humor Martha turns upon us.  

Food Words Worth Savoring

As we head into holiday feasting,  a few choice food words from the Miriam Webster Dictionary from their top ten list of food words worth savoring: 

Ambrosial
extremely pleasing to the senses, especially of taste or smell 
comes from the Greek word for "immortality", ambrosia was the food of the Greek and Roman gods (nectar was their drink)

Gustatory
related to or associated with eating or the sense of taste
It's a late 17th century creation coined from gustare meaning taste. In the 20th century its no stranger to cooking magazines where it is paired with words like pleasure and delight.
Distantly related to gusto, more closely related to disgust.

Piquant
agreeably stimulating to the palate, especially: spicy
engagingly provocative; also: having a lively arch charm

Postprandial
occurring after a meal
Although the Latin prandium actually means "late breakfast," postprandial now refers to activities after a meal, especially those that aid digestion.


Borborygmus
intenstinal rumbling caused by moving gas
It is an onomatopoeic or imitative—it sounds like what it describes. 

About the Word:

Ambrosia comes from the Greek word for "immortality"; ambrosia was the food of the Greek and Roman gods (nectar was their drink).

Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/top-10-food-words-worth-savoring/ambrosial.html#mRCDf7cr7JsAFqLT.99

1 : agreeably stimulating to the palate; especially: spicy

2 : engagingly provocative; also : having a lively arch charm
Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/top-10-food-words-worth-savoring/piquant.html#IdDkKz6IDEXpSV3q.99

Definition:

1 : agreeably stimulating to the palate; especially: spicy

2 : engagingly provocative; also : having a lively arch charm

Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/top-10-food-words-worth-savoring/piquant.html#IdDkKz6IDEXpSV3q.99

Holiday Party Food

Our culture's love of technology is equaled by it's love of celebration.  Since the l970's these all-American predilections have come together in the food processing industry.  As we approach the holiday tables laden with high protein party food, let us be thankful, skeptical and consider the unintended consequences of love and health in the most recent World Cancer Research Fund review on processed meats and cancer.

Average American - Salty

Inspiration Green is a compendium of resources, links, databases and more information on all things eco. Researching our next landscape addressing salt, I came upon these fun lists

Top 10 Seriously Salty Foods in the Grocery Store (sodium content varies among brands)

1. Frozen TV dinners, 800 to 2,000-plus milligrams (mg) 

2. Frozen pizza, 2,645 mg

3. Pretzel rods, 1,350 mg

4. Canned chili, 1040 mg

5. Lunch meat, 150 mg per slice

6. Canned soup, 870 mg

7. Packaged macaroni and cheese, 533 mg

8. Flour tortilla, 450 mg

9. Canned vegetables, 250 mg

10. Breakfast cereal, 175 mg

compare with other comparable web listings: 

10. Snacks like potato chips, popcorn, and pretzels 

9. Meat dishes that are "mixed"

8. Pasta

7. Cheese

6. Cheeseburgers and sandwiches

5. Soups

4. Poultry products

3. Pizza

2. Luncheon meats

1. Bread and rolls

Foods containing or eaten with enriched bleach flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, water, sugar, and 2% or less of salt, potato flour, cultured wheat flour, yeast, distilled vinegar, dough conditioners, sorbitan monostearate, soy lecithin, milk and soy flour -- a.k.a. Wonderbread) seem to be a major player in sodium intake.

 US Dietary Guidelines (opaque)

differed from information at Center for Disease Control and their fact sheet.

A Cornucopia of Foodish Photography

Alison Zavos, of  the always fascinating Featureshoot blog has chosen images from ‘Fruitland’ a Group Show of Strange Fruit Photos, Opening at Photoville, Brooklyn.

Zavos notes, "Perhaps as a response or antidote to the labored and moody Dutch still life-inspired food photography that has been proliferating in galleries over the past decade, young photographers are now challenging themselves to take a regular piece of fruit and make it special, adding an array of strange, unique twists."

Athos Burez  Still Life III  16 x 20 in.  Archival Pigment Print

Athos Burez Sarah Ferri 16 x 20 in .Archival Pigment Print

Daniel Stier  The Nature Paradox  16 x 20 in.  Archival Pigment Print

Daniel Stier  The Nature Paradox  16 x 20 in.  Archival Pigment Print

Aron Filkey & Mate Moro  HappyFew No. 9  15 x 20 in.  Archival Pigment Print

Food Porn

This work reminds us of the Chicago Imagists, an interesting mashup.

Food Porn 

Food Porn

Food Porn

Consider Patrick Cudahy and Pig Business

May 29,1913

The Patrick Cudahy meatpacking plant, which traces its history in the Milwaukee area to the 19th century, may soon be owned by the Chinese.

The plant is part of a proposed $4.72 billion deal that would be the biggest purchase ever of a U.S. company by interests in China. The deal calls for Patrick Cudahy's parent company, Smithfield Foods, to be purchased by Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd., the majority shareholder in China's largest meat processor.

The proposal led to some perplexed reactions about the prospect of Sweet Applewood Smoked Bacon soon being owned by a company in one of the last bastions of Communism on the globe, a country that brought the world cheap labor and outsourced jobs.

"I think there are people who will say this is 100% horrible. I think there are some who will say it's a great thing — it's an opportunity for U.S. agriculture to get U.S. products into the hands of Chinese consumers," said Jeff Sindelar, an associate professor who researches the global meat industry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "And then I think there is a larger segment of people right now who aren't really sure."

Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/business/chinese-company-to-buy-parent-company-of-patrick-cudahy-b9921633z1.html#ixzz2jJtMZmtR 

The impact of industrial food production on our planet is discused in the four minute interview film Pig Business.  A more poetical view of the dilemma of the place in the wheel of life may be seen in this short exerpt from the 2011 film, Samsara.

Corn has a Big Impact on the Land

Research for Cornscape  revealed the imbalance between nutritional advantages and depletion of the fertility of the land. How best to present this dilemma in our image?

Environmental Impact calculates depletion factors of the midwestern agriculturally corn-centric states. Consider the real cost of a box of flakes…and so many more foods.

Commercially grown corn. The data here comes from the University of Nebraska and reflects the averages for the Midwest United States. It should not come as a surprise that the most important resources for growing corn is land, water, fuel and fertilizer. The electricity is used mostly for the irrigation systems, but also in planting, harvesting, etc.Some facts about corn: The yield is about 155 bushels of corn (56 pounds each) per acre, The irrigation, in average, covers the field with about 2 inches of water per growing season In addition to fertilizers, a significant amounts of lime are spread on the corn fields (about 212 kg/hectare) About 45% of corn kernel is carbon, obtained from the atmospheric CO2. We include this as a negative number for the release of carbon dioxide pollution (that is, as carbon sequestration).

PI - Pollution Index. Indication of the amount and severity of the pollution generated during the life cycle of an item. The higher number, the more pollution.

DI - Depletion Index. Indication of the amount of resources used during production and disposal of an item. The higher number, the more resources are used (and the less sustainable the product is).

EI - Entropy Index. - Indication of the amount of energy wasted during the life cycle of an item. The higher number, the more energy is wasted.

CEII - Composite Environmental Impact Index. Indication of the item's impact on the environment, taking into account the resources used and the pollution generated during production, use, and disposal of the item. The higher number, the higher impact.

study for Cornscape in Processed Views

study for Cornscape in Processed Views

study for Cornscape in Processed Views

Consumed: Nourishment and Indulgence

installation shot, Ponder Food as Love

CONSUMED Nourishment and Indulgence

Curated by Jacqueline Nathan with Marce Dupay and Wynn Perry. 

Willard Winkleman Gallery

Bowling Green State University

September 6 - October 9 2013

Food is unlike any other object of consumption because it is necessary for life, yet we have highly complex societal, cultural and individual relationships with it. The work in this exhibition considers some of the issues, attitudes and associations that food engenders and symbolizes. Artists included

Michael Burton and Michiko Nitta
Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr
Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman 
Sue Coe
Sayaka Ganz
Jeph Gurecka
Mary Ellen Johnson
Judith Klausner 

Katharine Kuharic
Monika Malewska
Portia Munson
Debra Priestly
Tara Sellios
Dennis Wojtkiewicz
April Wood
Events:

ArtTalk: Sue Coe  Friday, September 13th at 7 p.m., followed by a reception for the artists.  Coe is renowned as an animal rights activist and artist. She recently published Cruel.

ArtTalk: Cynthia Baron Sunday, September 15th at 3 p.m. (immediately before the first film).   Watch What You Eat: Food Documentaries and the Counter-Cuisine Movement by this BGSU professor and co-author of Appetites and Anxieties: Food, Film and the Politics of Representation (2013)

ArtTalk: Debra Priestly Monday, September 16th, at 5 p.m. Priestly''s prints and mixed media work often use canning jar images to indicate the preservation of African-American history.

Films included in the Sunday Munch series are: 

The Garden (2008): A group of mostly working class, Latino South Central farmers fought the good fight—and they''re still at it— for the basic human need to grow food. in this Academy Award nominated film.

Super Size Me (2004): A cult classic with Morgan Spurlock eating his way to bad health on a month''s worth of McDonalds.

Food, Inc.(2008) : The rock stars of the ethical eating movement —Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser— weigh in on all that is wrong in American''s industrialized food system.

Consumed Exhibition Poster