Eating Design book preview

Connecting with ourselves and with each other through the action of eating.

This book is a compilation of projects based on my Master’s in Fine Arts and Design thesis concept of Eating Design. First printed via blurb.com for the thesis exhibition, I am seeking to expand on these ideas for a wider audience to include recipes and more stories from participants. Currently covered in the manuscript are stories of five Favorite Meals, an eating design dinner concept, the first Pietopia contest, and an introduction (seen in the images above) about the five starting points in which I create eating designs from. Below are three example excerpts. I am currently seeking representation for publication, please contact me if you are interested. Enjoy!

Eating can be a communal activity. Sharing food and cooking together are common activities that people do on a daily basis. Whether it is with families, friends, or housemates, it is something that many people can relate to. Why is it that most people intuitively understand and participate in the action of eating with others? Or that many families value sitting down and eating at least one meal a day together? Why do many religions promote feasting or fasting as a group? How have courtship rituals evolved because of eating or drinking? Food shapes the lives of people in a fundamental way: we all need to eat in order to live. Over time, this fundamental need has been abused and elevated politically (government food regulation / forced famine), culturally (socioeconomic status and what is consumed / regional specialty foods), and socially (eating disorders / dinner parties). The power of food is immense because we understand our basic need for it. What is eaten can build communities or belittle those within it.
Left: The red lentils look like fish eggs, bringing to mind how a community can start with just one and build into many.

The following series is an exploration of the individual in community and the action of eating. Participants choose anyone be it someone they know, don’t know, admire, love, hate, is related to, not related to, dead, or alive to share a meal with. I then create a full sensory experience for the participant and their Favorite who may or may not be present for the experience. The meal itself is determined by who the participants are and can occur at any time of the day: breakfast, high tea, cocktails, or a midnight snack. The aim of these meals is to explore the more intimate portrait of a community. Each designed experience requires research, open communication between myself and the participant, my reinterpretation of who this person is/was and what they are like prescribed through the visual aesthetic, where the meal is held, and recipes that I create and/or find. I give participants a list of questions (opposite page) to start the process.

Favorite Meal Questions

• Think of a person, living, not-living, fictional, real, present or not present, whom you’d like to have a meal with.
• Who-are they , why-have you chosen them, what-have they done, how-have they touched your life?
• What are the flavors that come to mind when thinking of this person, whether you know for sure they “like” them or not is unimportant, go with your gut here and make a list.
• What meal would be most appropriate? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea, snacks, cocktails, midnight snack, whenever!
• What place do you think of or associate this person with? Is it a room? Another city? A climate? Where?
• What smells come to mind when thinking of this person and are they associated with anything tactile? (Ex: a grandmother’s perfume and her favorite scarf, a newborn’s scent and its baby blanket, etc.)
• Find one piece of memorabilia that you have of this person, anything that you use as a visual for remembering (ex: a book, a photo, a sweater, a trinket, a necklace, a newspaper article, etc)

Laleña chose her Favorite to be the artist and personality extraordinaire, Florence Broadhurst. Florence was Australian by birth. In her early twenties, she was known as Miss Bobby Broadhurst, traveling as a singer and dancer from Asia to India to Western Europe. In 1926, she opened the Broadhurst Academy, a finishing school for girls in Shanghi. In 1933, she moved to London under the name Madame Pellier, a fashionista who opened a dress shop on the infamous New Bond Street. She had married London aristocracy, but by 1949 she was divorced, re-attached, had a child, and moved back to Australia under the guise of British aristocracy.

In 1959, she opened her wallpaper company. It wasn’t until later in life (she was at this point in her early 60s) that she went the path of design. “There is debate as to whether she actually drew any of the patterns herself, but clearly she had an eye for talented people—hired many, paid them very little, took full credit.” And although she was a shrewd business woman, it was said that her factory was incredibly hip for its day. Artists, designers, and craftsmen working side by side, a radio always blaring, parties springing up intermittently in the evenings, and celebrities popping in to see the infamous warehouse space. She was a force so energetic and magnetic that despite her low wages and hard-nosed work ethic, people gravitated toward her. Her energy made it fun. Naturally, in order to truly evoke Florence at this meal, I had to recreate one of her beautiful patterns (and there are over 500 of them). I knew I needed to recreate a pattern out of food on a wall–an edible wallpaper. It would have to be big, bright, and beautiful, just like Miss Broadhurst (her hair was a blazing red color for the last 25 years of her life, just like the wall). The horse pattern was what called me. It was the power, force, and the way the horses morph into one another that resonated with me and I think, with Florence.

Licorice was the perfect medium because of its synthetic quality and all around fakeness (there is nothing real about Twizzlers pull ‘n’ peels). Miss Broadhurst’s life was not all around genuine. She did not exactly live honestly, turning herself into different people as times changed and new opportunities arose. She once said “I live in perpetual amazement at the gullibility of my fellow creatures,” quoting author HG Wells. However, this fakeness was her reality. This was just how she did things which is awe inspiring and deserves recognition in and of itself.

I made an array of foods for this meal. As Laleña was just getting over a cold, I decided to go a subtler and more nourishing route than the original plan—a pack of cigarettes and a bourbon on the rocks. I made Tom Yum lemongrass soup, to evoke the Asian inspired living and traveling Miss Broadhurst did, and help to cure Laleña’s cold, as well as Hot Toddy’s with thick slices of ginger, lemon, a heaping spoonful of local honey and a shot or two of St. Remy’s brandy in a slightly steeped Earl Grey tea. For dessert I made Fairy Bread. Fairy Bread is an Australian treat they serve to children on birthdays and special occasions. Fairy bread is no more than white bread, buttered, with sprinkles thrown on top. That’s it. I thought it was perfect for Florence. I can imagine her on the morning of her son’s birthday, forgetting it was his birthday, and whipping up a plate of this bread out of convience. It is artificial as a stand in for a birthday cake as well as in its ingredients. Kind of like Florence.

If you’d like to purchase the first publication, you can do so here.