The Center for Genomic Gastronomy

On Saturday evening Zack from the Center performed in a hybrid lecture/cook off. This was the menu he helped prepare.

Cat and I have spent the last week putting the finishing touches on the cookbook that we are publishing as part of our DA4GA project called “Eat Less, Live More and Pray for Beans.” The file is in the hands of the printer (Ditto Press in London). We were excited to take advantage of Ditto Press’ 2-color risograph printer. What follows is a sneak preview of a few sections of the publication. In all of the images below, the orange is actually a neon ink and will show up very differently on the book than on these design proofs.

Our thinking and writing during this project was highly influenced by the book Meals to Come by Warren Belasco. Here is one infographic from our cookbook that draws on his analysis of 200 years of Anglo-American food futurism.

Early on in our research we spent of time looking for interesting stories from the many data sets about global and Dutch food. Here are some infographics of trends and changes that caught our eye.

(click for a larger version or download the .pdf)

On the right-hand side is a short essay from the book called “Calling All Beta-Tasters and Gastronauts: This is Your Opportunity to Dive Into the Future Mouth-First.” To develop the recipes we worked with repeat collaborates Heather K. Julius and Scott Heimendinger. Both culinary creatives responded with some amazing recipes which we reveal on June 7th.

When we spoke to Tiny van Boekel at Wageningen University we were quite amazed to hear about “MeatLess” a lupine-flour based product that can be used to make meat that is 80% meat and 20% non-meat. This conversation inspired our “Meat Map” so we could figure out where to put semi-meats on the spectrum.

((click for a larger version or download the .pdf)

And finally, in the process of writing this cook book, we came to realize that we are always on the look out for unexpected ingredients. Now we have one more to add to the list: Maisantozwammen a mushroom grown on transgenic corn.

We hope you are able to visit the exhibit at Naturalis in the latter half of 2012. If you want a copy of the cookbook you can visit the Naturalis museum in Leiden, the Netherlands, where it will be on sale in the bookstore starting June 7th. It will also be available on their online bookstore (http://www.natuurenboek.nl/) starting June 7th. (They ship internationally.) Or you can email us directly at info at genomicgastronomy dot com

We are down to three “BioHacker” posters of our original 100 prints. Time for a trip back to Bangalore to make a second print run?

Reviewing the final copy for our new cookbook (being released as part of DA4GA on June 7th) I ran across this little menu note made in our Planetary Sculpture Supper Club Bangalore menu, when we first prepared our “Seed Savers Delight” dish:

It has been said that technology is the most human thing about us. Seed saving is a one of the oldest and most resilient human technologies. Seed saving is an environmental interface between humans and the plant world we are constantly co-evoloving with.

One of the greatest databases ever created is the collection of massively diverse food genomes that have domesticated us around the world. This collection represents generation after generation of open source biohacking by hobbyists, farmers and more recently proprietary biohacking by agronomists and biologists.

This dish is a celebration of the great work by countless experimenters and aesthetes whose contribution to our sculpted planet and agri-eco-culinary system is rarely acknowledged. It should remind us that “We Have Always Been Biohackers”

I am still pretty happy with that description.

There is a review of EDIBLE in nature here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7390/full/483404a.html

Here is a .pdf

The Center showed a version of DOOMER FOOD as part of the “Collections” show at Fictilis Gallery in Seattle, WA, USA. The show is up until March 29th.

SEAWEED WALL by The Center for Genomic Gastronomy, an exhibit at the EDIBLE exhibition at SCIENCE GALLERY, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 2012

Feeding Times Special: Vegan Ortolan

The Center for Genomic Gastronomy curated the current exhibition at the Science Gallery, EDIBLE. We were really excited about getting visitors to experience parts of the exhibition through taste – one of the senses that is often disregarded in exhibitions.

To bring this component to life we commissioned culinary extraordinaire Heather K. Julius (who also runs the Special Snowflake Studio) to develop recipes, challenging her to create dishes such as the Vegan Ortolan. It was an inspiring collaboration and you can find all of Heather’s recipes for edible, as well as recipes from other foodies, chefs and scientists on the Science Gallery website.

The feeding times will run twice daily for the duration of the exhibition, serving a new recipe every three days. Today was the first day for Vegan Ortolan.

ABOUT VEGAN ORTOLAN

The traditional preparation of the ortolan bird in France demands that they are captured alive, force-fed, drowned in Armagnac and eaten whole. Although it is illegal to prepare and eat, the dish retains a forbidden attraction for some adventurous eaters. What better way to challenge the skills of a chef than to create a vegan recipe which simulates the experience of crunching through the skin, guts and bones of a small bird, without using any animal products? This dish is intended to be consumed in the traditional way with a large napkin covering the head and the face to keep the flavours in, and to hide one’s shame from God.

Tasting notes for traditionally prepared ortolan emphasize the rich foie gras like taste of the flesh, the crunch of the many tiny bones and the bitterness of the guts.

The feeding time specials change every three days for the duration of the exhibition. Here is Conor updating the times for today.

The nests are ready and the Eaters are taking their seats.

Enguerran, head chef for the exhibition is plating the vegan ortolan.

The dish is traditionally eaten with a cloth over your head – to keep the aromas in and to hide your shame from God.

The Fig symbolises the head and beak, while the body is represented by a tofu pocket.