Sunday night was the first of several Bread Friend Maps that will be happening in the pacific northwest this summer. And it was even more fun than I imagined! I mean, I knew it was going to be a good time, but it is always great when something exceeds your expectations!
As a recap, the concept of the Bread Friend Map is by UK designer Alexandre Bettler. “The Bread Friend Map is using bread to improve communication. It is based on the French word for friend, ‘copain’, describing someone you share your bread with. Co-’ standing for ‘with’ and ‘-pain’ for ‘bread’, a friend is someone you share your bread with, and is the level of communication explored for this project. For Gradual, each visitor is offered a slice of a single piece two meter long rye bread, everyone sharing a slice of the same bread. In return, you are asked to add a sticker with your name on yourself and one on the Bread Friend Map, and to trace (dotted line) the link to anyone you know on the map. This will show your connection to other people who you shared the bread with. If there is anyone you fancy, find his/her name on the sticker s/he is wearing and use the map to connect to her/him or any other visitor in the room, everyone being the friend of a friend. The shorter the bread goes, the bigger the map becomes and more friends there are. It reveals the process of design – the physical act of creating – through generating and experimenting rather than finishing and polishing the work.”
By curating the Bread Friend map as an accessory to my Eating Design exhibition, I am connecting what I do as an Eating Designer with an international context so viewers can see I am not working in a bubble 
. It was also a way to forge other connections such as between different countries (the UK and US), cities (London and Portland, OR), individuals (who knew each other or did not know each other at the event), and with me. The connections do not stop their either; the act of making the bread, the people it took to actually produce the five foot long bread loaf was incredible! The entire process from figuring out how to make a huge loaf of bread, where to find an oven that size, help kneading and baking, transporting it, and finally the map itself was amazing.
The Bread Friend Map will be making two more appearances this summer. The first at the JOIN design show in Seattle on June 12th at Ouch My Eye Gallery. Join is a neat organization that is “a place for designers, enthusiasts, and dreamers to converge via design shows and events. JOIN promotes emerging American design by providing designers a forum to show work and get feedback.” I am excited to be a part of this group of designers and forward thinkers!
The second will be at the Time Based Arts Festival (TBA) here in Portland, Oregon, an international event held from September 4-14th, 2009.
“Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s annual convergence of contemporary performance, dance, music, new media and visual arts projects in Portland, Oregon. Now in its sixth year, the Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival is presented from September 4-14, 2008 with visual art installations running until October 4. The TBA Festival examines and celebrates every form of contemporary art and is the only festival of its kind in North America.”
Many of these photos are courtesy of Andrew Owen
My installation is finally complete. I decided to go fairly low-fi, meaning keeping it really simple and accessible. I used chalk board paint to define my space and also offset the white covers of my books. It became a great canvas to write with chalk:
“How can Eating Design make an impact your life? Think of it as a framework: a new way to communicate something, to incite interaction amongst people, or personally reflect. It is as versatile as you.”
That is one of my favorite summations of Eating Design.
I also have the blog as part of the exhibit. It has been such an incredible and important aspect to my work which initially surprised me! It started out as a virtual sketchbook really, a place where I could amass my projects, thoughts, ideas, and research. But I am so happy that it has become so much more than that for me. I have become part of a community that I otherwise would have never found, which I am so grateful for. The blogging community has been one of the most supportive and energizing communities I have ever been a part of and am eternally thankful .
Off to practice for my Oral Defense happening on Monday. Have a great weekend!
These past few weeks and this week have been absolute whirlwinds. I woke up this morning and realized I haven’t baked anything in almost a week! But I have gotten my install finished (yay!), the bread friend map, the chalkboard paint, and the rolling butcher board counter top turned computer table are all complete.
The five foot long bread loaf my friend Lauren is making me is going to be incredible! Not only because she is an amazing baker, but how she is going about doing this. She is having a friend help her build a five foot long bread peel, then she is recruiting a few other friends, one of whom is a Buddhist nun, to help with the kneading and baking of the actual loaf! These connections are one of the most exciting aspects to these projects. It’s like a ripple effect where more people from the community are involved just because they want to be, it’s so neat . And the Buddhist nun helping out? I can’t wait to taste what her good karma does to this bread loaf.
If you are in Portland over Memorial Day weekend, please feel free to stop by the opening of the show! It is right after graduation:
Sunday, May 24th, 7pm
1241 NW Johnson, PDX, OR 97209
I made little mailer packets as my show card(s) for the year end show. They were really fun to do! I screen printed everything, so they all have that nice tactile feeling of the screen print paint-ink on the different papers. I used a nice textured paper for the mini-bread (ha! my favorite) and on the back of it, it says “copain…”, index cards for the red circles of information, and Rolodex cards for my personal info. I then wrapped the cards in newsprint and used the stickers that will be used in my show to seal the home-made envelopes.
Along with the book I just printed for the show, I am also curating an experience-design piece by a London-based designer, Alexandre Bettler. When I discovered what he was doing, I could not stop thinking about it.
“The Bread Friend Map is using bread to improve communication. It is based on the French word for friend, ‘copain’, describing someone you share your bread with. Co-’ standing for ‘with’ and ‘-pain’ for ‘bread’, a friend is someone you share your bread with, and is the level of communication explored for this project. For Gradual, each visitor is offered a slice of a single piece two meter long rye bread, everyone sharing a slice of the same bread. In return, you are asked to add a sticker with your name on yourself and one on the Bread Friend Map, and to trace (dotted line) the link to anyone you know on the map. This will show your connection to other people who you shared the bread with. If there is anyone you fancy, find his/her name on the sticker s/he is wearing and use the map to connect to her/him or any other visitor in the room, everyone being the friend of a friend. The shorter the bread goes, the bigger the map becomes and more friends there are. It reveals the process of design – the physical act of creating – through generating and experimenting rather than finishing and polishing the work.”
For months, I would go back to the Bread Friend map, mull it over, and revel at how it not only connected with what I was doing and believe in pertaining to design, experience, and food, but how it connected on so many other levels as well. First, the entire basis of the Bread Friend Map is that it is all about connections and watching them happen in real time. Second, the map speaks to processes, in particular, the process of design and it’s ebb and flow of many participants, users, and ultimately, people as designers. Third, the connection that the BF map will make between two countries/cities/communities is really neat. Everywhere the BF map is done, it will look, grow, and feel different. This is because no two places are alike, the BF map becoming a visual representation for the differences but also commonalities we share as people. And last, the amazing connection of the internet. I found Alexandre via the web and if either of us did not have a website with our work on it, we may not have ever had the chance to share experiences like this. That is one of the neatest things I think .
As I continue to formulate my ideas around what it is I do, community is one of those things that I keep coming back to. Sometimes that word, I feel, is abused. It’s like the word sustainable, or green. It’s a buzzword that we all have an idea about what it means, but actually holds different meanings for different contexts. I define community as a group of people who share something in common: it could be anything from living on the same street or in the same country, working in the same profession, your children go to the same school, sharing in the same hobbies, or going to the same place for breakfast every weekend. Even for me, community means something different each time I think about it. But what I find most interesting about community is the individuals who make up our communities, because the individuals themselves can belong to multiple communities. Something that I’ve been exploring, especially with The Favorite meal series, is the individual who makes up our communities. I will continue to do these Favorite Meals, amassing a bunch of them while looking for connections or patterns in how we belong, interact, and change the communities we reside in. Let me know if you are interested, I am looking for a few people to do one this summer. You don’t necessarily have to be local either, that could make things really interesting!
So it all comes back to connections: what they are, how we find/make them, who is involved in the connecting, and the ways to communicate in order to make those connections are all of deep interest for me. This particular series in my Eating Design process has been about connecting people with themselves and with others. It has been so fulfilling to know more about myself throughout this process but also be able to create a framework for others to do the same.
I made that sweet potato cake again the other day. Sheer comfort food! And was it ever comforting:). I am warning you though, you may not be able to stop eating it, so if you make it, have some place to take it to or have some friends over. It’s great with coffee or tea as the nutmeg compliments both drinks. I’m going to go eat some right now. Cheers!
I finally received the proof copy of my thesis book, Eating Design, yesterday! It is so exciting to have a ‘thing’ made and materialized (and then show up at your doorstep:). Especially since most of my work is ephemeral– I create experiences, and once they are over all that is left are the memories (and some pictures). But it is so neat to have a selection of these projects and other information about my work and eating design all in one place! I am really happy with it. I decided to make a book because of the intimacy a book requires. When you read, it is just you, the book, and your interpretation of the book which I believe parallels the intimacy of the Favorite Meal series. The book format reflects this and honors the individual experiences people have, leaving room for personal interpretation.
**Update–I am so excited that this book has generated so much interest! If you’d like to own a copy, you can buy it directly from the publisher, blurb.com. I have self-published this book, so it won’t be found on a bookstore shelf. Each book ordered through blurb is printed per order and all proceeds just pay for the printing of the book. Thank you everyone for all your encouragement and support! **
woot!
Here are the food typography pages I am doing for my book. I wanted to convey my five eating design starting points and have them become part of the eating design. I am really excited with how they turned out! There were a few I used different foods to say the same word, just to experiment and see how it resonated.
I think I am going to go with the tomatoes on this one; it is cleaner (literally) and colorful. I tried the oranges because of the pungent citrus smell and colors that can make our mouths water by just looking at it. I was looking to see if this imagery would excite the senses through an image.
At first I was thinking about Place more literally; what things grow where? How does it make that place taste the way it does both in flavors of culture and food? This is why I chose coffee as my first material. Especially here in Portland, people drink coffee like water, but it is not grown here. Portland, as a place, has an ever-present aroma of coffee and coffee drinkers are regular fixtures in coffee shops and on the street. On the flip side of that, Portland has a huge breakfast culture. They take pride in their home made pancakes, french toast, eggs benedicts, and breakfast sandwiches (and coffee for that matter). So why Fruit Loops then for the second? It is unquestionably American and sugary cereal is something that is everywhere in this country, even Portland. I am still deciding on this one.
I chose to use green lentils for Personal History because of their heaviness, grounding effects, and concreteness as a staple food. One’s personal history is something that can not change, what’s happened, happened. Lentils are filling and we are filled with who we are no matter what.
Is this poo or chocolate pudding? I like the ambiguity of this because our memories are made up of both the good and the bad, which is something to be honored and celebrated. I also like the idea that the word ‘memory’ could be wiped away and something else written there; another trait of our memories is that they can be selective in what we do remember and there are always going to be new memories made. The malleability of this image is how I see memory in action.
I love this one just as an image! But I also really like how the red lentils look like fish eggs, bringing to mind how a community starts with just one and builds many.
“Eating design is rooted in the tradition of graphic design and communication; a message, story, or idea can all be conveyed through the action of eating. There is no other material a designer can use that gets closer to their audience or client than food. Food is a common and accessible starting point because everyone eats. The questions of how, what, and why we eat are explored and developed through intense research and experimentation. I believe in food as a starting point for examining our basic yet fundamental differences, not only with how we as people communicate and understand, but what is happening in and around the world at large. The points my work explores are taste, place, personal history, memory, and communtiy. Faced with mounting globalization, we live in a time where eating food from different cultures is common. A focus on why different cultures eat the way they do, for example, is one way eating design distinguishes itself from the aesthetic focus of food design or the culinary arts. Layering meaning and communicating a message by examining cooking and eating rituals, spices and local foods, and personal memories can all play a part in the multi-faceted approaches that happen with eating design projects.”
Here is a preview of some spreads from my thesis book: Eating Design. Things have been in full swing here, it’s really getting down to the wire with deadlines and project schedules! Once this weekend is over, I will be able to get back in the kitchen with more hands-on projects and baking. I have a stash of recipes to try!
Writing makes me really hungry. Does this happen for any of you? I mean, I am sitting here, pounding out page after page of thesis paper and all I can (subconsciously) think about is the next snack break! Or, more accurately, I can feel the next snack break come on. Today I found my perfect writing snack when I stopped at the Pastaworks in my neighborhood, these scrumptious Swedish gingersnaps. The bag has been open and sitting next to me on my desk for the duration of the six hours I have been here thesis writing, slowly (or not so slowly) withering down to the crumbs at the bottom. Each cup of tea I make prompts another handful of these heart-shaped wonders, which leave a lovely spicy aftertaste in your mouth only making you want more. I hardly ever buy sweets (mostly because I make them on my own so often, but also I am never sure what is put into them. These have all natural ingredients, thank goodness, because desperate times call for desperate measures aka: store bought cookies!).
My thesis has actually been really interesting to work on and I am excited about it! In short, I have been positioning eating design within the broader context of design history, more specifically product and graphic design. I am absolutely and unabashedly nerding out (because I get SUPER excited) on graphic design history and theory!
Now that you know what has been consuming me these past days making me scarce with my blog posts, I will share with you (another!) favorite scone recipe. I made these the other night after a friend of mine had told me how magical they were (yes, I do believe she used the term magical). It was 9:45 pm, there was 15 minutes until the store closed, I ran to the store as a woman with an extremely important mission of finding crystallized ginger to put into these scones. It was a late one in the kitchen that night, but the scones were wonderful, light, airy, delicious, and I got my baking fix.
Ginger Lemon Scones (recipe adapted from Orangette)
½ c milk
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ stick (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
3 Tbs sugar
Flavorful additions of your choice, to taste
a handful of chopped crystalized ginger
half of a lemon, zested
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Beat together the milk and the egg and then set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture, working until you have no lumps bigger than a pea. Add the sugar and whatever additions you choose, and stir or toss to mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the dries, reserving just a tad of the milk-egg mixture to use as a glaze. Bring dough together gently with a wooden spoon.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it no more than 12 times. [Apparently, twelve is the magic number here; surpass it at your own risk.] Pat dough into a round approximately ½-inch thick, and cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat, if you have one. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack.
Enjoy!
I have been working on a book cover for an Eating Design book I am making for my thesis exhibition. Here are my three favorites:
The fourth Favorite was done for Blake Van Roekel and her Grandmother, Mary Alice. This was a different experience for me as this was the first meal I had to do with the Favorite being present. Blake took me over to meet her Grammy (as Mary Alice is so endearingly known in the family) an afternoon about a month before I did the meal. Her house cannot be described as anything but a gingerbread-wonderland-of-grandmother-loveliness. Walking into her house was like walking into a hug. No joke. Imagine, lavender (her favorite color) permeates the house through cushions, curtains, stained glass windows, and art; there are skylights and large open windows creating a light yet cozy feeling; she has an annex upstairs for the sole purpose of her sewing room where she creates hand-made bags, aprons, and baby clothes; her kitchen is organized just as a kitchen should be, it was like I already knew where everything was because it just made sense. Flowers, candy, nice hand lotion, and the permeating smell of cleanliness and roses filled the house.
Grammy had asked if she could set the table for the experience. I was excited that she asked, what a better and more authentic way to evoke a Favorite then having them directly participate. With this design constraint in mind, I set out to come up with a proper menu based on Blake’s memories of her Grandmother’s cooking and philosophy. Mary Alice is of the generation where fast, easy, and convenient foods ruled the kitchen. The 1950s were full of new products, gadgets, and types of food to make life easier at home. It was only natural to find recipes from the 50’s, with their tall claims of being fast and convenient. Deviled eggs, chicken salad sandwiches, a raspberry Jell-o ring with pineapple chunks, a cheese ball, and maraschino-vanilla-pudding-vanilla-wafer pie were all in order.
This meal was one of the hardest I’ve had to make. I stayed true to the recipes, calling for a box mix of this, or a can of that, not making anything directly from scratch as I like to do. The irony of not being able to make a real (or what I perceive as real) homemade meal was difficult! But for Grammy, it was perfect. She loved what was being served and even told us that she “doesn’t do organic from the stores because it is so expensive,” explaining that she’s “made it this long and is living healthily and happily, why change now?”
I decided that I needed to infiltrate Mary Alice’s table setting in a way that was not intrusive but rather additive to the entire experience. So I served the meal on a bed of wheat grass, still growing from it’s dirt, plopped right onto the plate, with the sandwich and deviled egg then nested right on top. It was a beautiful addition to an already gorgeous table. The grass also evoked another theme I was threading throughout the meal: spring and newness. Something about Mary Alice’s house and demeanor all reminded me of freshness, youth, and spring.
The meal itself was full of warm conversation and funny stories (told by Mary Alice about her travels through Germany and youth in Wisconsin). While a young girl, she told us stories of not being able to get margarine, especially the yellow margarine, in Wisconsin because it was illegal. Wisconsin as the capital dairy state, outlawed margarine, so they would drive across the boarder to Illinois, pick up margarine and with it a little yellow capsule of dye to mix in! It was all the rage apparently (both as a food-fashion and as a health food), so whenever they knew of a friend or neighbor who was making a trip across state boundaries, they would ask for some margarine to be picked up.
Through this meal, I understand why Blake chose her Grammy as her favorite. Blake is also an artist and a foodie and she says she owes a lot of her interest in food to Mary Alice. Since Blake was a little girl, Mary Alice has hosted the family holiday’s, birthday’s, and Sunday dinners always with an emphasis on setting a proper table. She is famous in her family for an ornate table setting, which Blake connects with through her memories and her heart. I was so lucky to be able to be witness to their lovely relationship, take part in Mary Alice’s table setting, and create a meal and memory for them to share.
Thank you Abby for taking these photos! Her soft, romantic aesthetic was perfect for the occasion. You can see more of her beautiful work here.
Maraschino Cherry Vanilla Pie
1 purchased shortbread pie crust
1 large package of vanilla pudding mix
2 bananas
1 small jar of maraschino cherries
6 Vanilla wafers
Cut the bananas in slices and place in the bottom of the pie crust.
Mix the pudding mix as directed on the box for pie.
Crumble up or place whole the Vanilla wafers on top of the pie.
Place the cherries around the outside edge of the pie.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Serve cold.
Deviled Eggs (from here)
6 eggs, hard cooked and peeled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
3/4 teaspoon white wine vinegar
pinch of salt (optional)
fresh ground black pepper (optional)
Cut eggs in half. Arrange egg whites cut side up on a serving plate and put the yolks in a small mixing bowl. Mash yolks with fork then stir in mayonnaise, mustard, and vinegar. Mash and stir all ingredients together well. Taste and add salt and pepper if desired. Spoon a little bit of the mixture into each egg white half, dividing mixture as evenly as possible between the eggs. Sprinkle eggs with smoked paprika if desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Chicken Salad (recipe adpoted loosely from here)
Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
5 teaspoons honey
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Salad
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
2 cups red seedless grapes
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
Method
In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to dress the salad. This can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place the chicken breasts in one layer in a baking dish with 1/2 cup water. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes until completely cooked through. Remove cooked chicken breasts from pan, cool at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cover and refrigerate.
When the chicken is cold, dice into bite-size pieces and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in pecans, grapes, celery and dressing.
Cheese Ball (recipe adapted from here)
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (1 ounce) package Ranch-style dressing mix
2 cups chopped pecans
4 pecan halves
In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, and dressing mix. Form into one large ball or two smaller balls. Roll in chopped pecans to coat surface. Decorate the top with pecan halves. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
