THE CULTURAL POWER OF FOOD (Dutch version)

Carolyn Steel schreef het boek: Hungry city, how food shaped our lives.

Het boek gaat over hoe steden eten, heel kort gezegd. Klinkt simpel, maar onze steden te eten geven heeft een grotere invloed op sociaal/cultureel gebied en op ons milieu, dan al het andere dat wij doen.
Waarom is eten zo interessant? Eten is een eerste levensbehoeft, we doen het allemaal. Maar als je nadenkt over het feit dat er elke dag, voor een stad zo groot als Londen, dertigduizend maaltijden geproduceerd, verkocht, bereid, gekookt, gegeten en weer afgevoerd moeten worden - en dat elke dag voor elke stad op aarde - wordt het ineens een heel ander verhaal. Het is eigenlijk merkwaardig dat wij, aardebewoners, eten. Voedsel vormt steden, en daarmee ook ons. Hoe? Dat is geen blogpost, dat zijn boeken, maar ik ga er wel eens goed over na denken en researchen.

Enkele gedachten van Carolyn Steel die de moeite waard zijn om zo nu en dan bij stil te staan en verder uit te diepen:

Voedsel is altijd in het nieuws; het raakt politieke, sociale, emotionele, psychologische, ecologische en economische kwesties.

Voedsel is het middel waarmee wij vorm geven aan onze planeet en aan onszelf.

Erkenning van de ware kracht van voedsel –i.p.v. reduceren tot goedkope brandstof- betekent het omarmen van een culturele kracht..

Voedsel is drager van een veelvoud aan betekenissen, zo rijk geschakeerd als het leven zelf. Denk aan vriendschap, identiteit, gemeenschappelijkheid, begeerte, genot, offergave, sensualiteit, straf, beloning, gezondheid, welzijn, dikmaker,..

We hebben behoefte aan een nieuw leef- en woonmodel. We moeten stad en land verzoenen, mens en natuur, welvaart en duurzaamheid. Dit is allemaal aan te pakken d.m.v. voedsel.

http://www.hungrycitybook.co.uk/

Slow

“When you want more than you have
You think you need...
And when you think more than you want
Your thoughts begin to bleed
I think I need to find a bigger place
Because when you have more than you think
You need more space”

- Eddie Vedder, Society (Into the wild)

Watch on YouTube

Society: we want to want more, we need to need more. So we’ve got more and more, and we’ve got it soon. And here we are with all our stuff. And the world is moving fast..

Result: We want less and we want it slow..

So, in 1989 Slow Food Nederland was found. As a reaction on fastfood (the fastfood that WE wanted).

Slow Food is an international movement for eco-gastronomy. One of their goals is to increase the shaping of food-society’s; an economic model that encourages durable production and increases the bonds between people in a society.

The movement counts over 100.000 members in 132 country’s and is grown into a worldwide interactive network.

The company is always alive. The agenda is full of activities, just like workshops, lectures, markets, food fairs and a brand new concept was just born; the Food Filmfestival, which will take place on 18, 19 and 20 march in Studio/K, Amsterdam. The Food Filmfestival shows that food isn’t just one of our basic needs anymore, food is more than that. It is linked to lifestyles, it’s a statement, it’s and art, it’s a vision, it’s a social issue. The Festival shows over 20 films about all these, and more, interpretations of what food is and what food can do. But also discussions, art, music and workshops.

(Food Film Festival, tickets EUR 8 / Students EUR 6,5 Foodfilmfestival.nl)

Ref: slowfood.nl

Noma restaurant

Food is art

Noma is a two michelan star restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s known for it’s reinvention and interpretation of the Nordic Cuisine. In 2010 Noma was ranked as the best restaurant in the world, by ‘Restaurant’.

The restaurant is located in an old warehouse on the waterfront in the Christianhavn neighborhood of central Copenhagen. The restaurant’s Interior Design is by Signe Bindslev-Henriksen.

The co-owner and chef from this high-qualified restaurant is Rene Redzepi. Before starting Noma, Rene worked at restaurants with high credits, such as El Bulli and Kong Hans Kaelder. He’s a hard working man with passion and eye for quality and beauty. In 2004 Rene Redzepi and his partner Claus Meyer organized the ‘Nordic Cuisine Symposium’. The Nordic Cuisine Movement was born. Farmers and restaurant work together to achieve a high-qualified Nordic cuisine.The cuisine of Noma can be considered more an interpretation of Nordic food than the classical Nordic food itself, but it’s a statement and the love for Nordic products is big. Slow food is the new term. The love for products is what you see when you look at any dish that Rene serves you. It are little pieces of art on the home-customized plates. He brings tastes together that no one expected and the way they melt together, in form and color is unbelievable. Cooking like Rene does is an art, just as painting or photographing can be. His feeling for composition is incredible.

Noma made a book, thank god! It’s named ‘NOMA time and place in Nordic Cuisine’ . You can order it on phaidon.co.uk for 45 euros. It includes over 90 recipes, philosophy and processes of the restaurant, information about the reinvention of the Nordic cuisine and over 200 specially commissioned photographs showing finished dishes, the local ingredients, the restaurant’s supplier and the inspiring Nordic landscape. It’s definitely a piece of art work.

More info and pictures: noma.dk

Food is more than food.

2011
What is food?
One of our basic needs? Yes, it is, but it is more, much more.
Food can be an art / lifestyle / vision / social issue / taste / statement / movement and more.
Food is a notion, and there is a lot to explore in nowadays food-society..