The Center for Genomic Gastronomy

In agriculture and gardening, seed saving is the practice of saving seeds or other reproductive material (e.g. tubers) from open-pollinated vegetables, grains, herbs, and flowers for use from year to year for annuals and nuts, tree fruits, and berries for perennials and trees. This is the traditional way farms and gardens were maintained.

(wikipedia: seed saving)

Cucumber seed saving.

The idea that we could purchase fruit and vegetables and extract plantable seeds from them fascinated us and we chose to research and test the different methods of doing this activity. We came across quite a few videos made by non-professionals, who shared their experience of saving seeds from the past few years. They all had their different methods and they were quite interesting. They saved seeds of heirloom vegetables from their own gardens or organic vegetables from the market. We need to keep one thing in mind: saving seeds from hybrid vegetables will not work out for sure.

We began our experiment by buying vegetables from the market, as we did not have access to vegetables from a garden. We bought tomatoes, brinjal (eggplant), squash and cucumber as these vegetables have seeds and it is easy to save them by following instructions. We began with cucumber and squash. It did not require much work; we just needed to leave the seeds in the water for an hour and wait for them to settle down. The floating seeds were thrown and the rest were rinsed and left to dry in the sun on a paper.

Squash seed saving

The process that we followed for Brinjal was the same as cucumber and squash. The only difference was that we did not have to leave the seeds in water for long.

Brinjal seed saving

Tomatoes have a similar process, but they need to be kept for a few days for fermentation, so that the gelatin that covers the seed dissolves in water and the seeds are left clean. The drying of the seeds requires, approximately 4-5 days depending on the amount of sunlight.

Tomato seed saving

The experiment was successful to the extent of saving the seeds, but we still do not know whether the seeds, once sown, will germinate again or not, as we are not sure about the purity of the vegetables. We took our research forward and spoke to individuals from a National Seed Corporation in Bangalore and they assured us that the seeds produced will grow back if they are not hybrid.

Links to the videos of saving seeds:
Gardening: How to save squash seeds
How To Save Your Own Vegetable Seeds – Cucumbers
How To Save Tomato Seeds

FoodLab Bangalore – is a 3 week workshop the Center for Genomic Gastronomy conducted with sophomores from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in the fall of 2011. Students will examine innovation and conservation in South Asian food cultures, building on recent research of the Center (utopian cuisines, mutagenic meals) and working towards the next edition of the Planetary Sculpture Supper Club to be held in Bangalore on Nov. 12th.

Follow the conversation all week here on our Blog, join in the comments and use the twitter hashtag #foodlabbangalore to keep up to date.

Living away from home on a student budget sucks when it comes to food. Our mess provides us with limited variety of food and thus we have to depend upon our friend’s birthday parties and treats to eat good food. While doing this assignment I realized I have mostly been eating out. I attended 3 birthday parties in these two weeks. We even went for a class breakfast and lunch. 5 good meals in 14 days. Quite a few meals are also skipped because of boredom and laziness. Apart from that, kurkure and thums up come under my favourite junk food. I end up having them every alternate days. Candy floss reminds me of Mumbai so whenever I see it, I eat it.

FoodLab Bangalore – is a 3 week workshop the Center for Genomic Gastronomy conducted with sophomores from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in the fall of 2011. Students will examine innovation and conservation in South Asian food cultures, building on recent research of the Center (utopian cuisines, mutagenic meals) and working towards the next edition of the Planetary Sculpture Supper Club to be held in Bangalore on Nov. 12th.

Follow the conversation all week here on our Blog, join in the comments and use the twitter hashtag #foodlabbangalore to keep up to date.

My tongue is given a lot more preference than my stomach. Studying in a boarding school where good food is a luxury, translates into eating a lot of good food when it has been spotted.

Unfortunately for me, I am now on a student budget, which means most of my good food, is junk. I do like my fruits and vegetables, but never have the patience to go and get them. So what I do end up having is a lot of fresh fruit juice. I would have liked to have nice south Indian food, but the problem with that is its too heavy. A three-course rice meal leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. What I would also like is food filled with flavors that are small in quantity and easy to digest. But unfortunately that would require money or time, so I could make it myself. Considering I have less of both I will continue to have little junk and a little boring food, until I have the required resources.

FoodLab Bangalore – is a 3 week workshop the Center for Genomic Gastronomy conducted with sophomores from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in the fall of 2011. Students will examine innovation and conservation in South Asian food cultures, building on recent research of the Center (utopian cuisines, mutagenic meals) and working towards the next edition of the Planetary Sculpture Supper Club to be held in Bangalore on Nov. 12th.

Follow the conversation all week here on our Blog, join in the comments and use the twitter hashtag #foodlabbangalore to keep up to date.

“Live to eat not eat to live” - one of the very first proverbs I bungled. Although I’m no gourmet I do enjoy the textures, flavours and aromas of all kinds of food. But meals at home in general are not particularly glamorous but generally tasty. They’re well balanced and I suppose more various than meals I’ve had in other homes. As a rule we have meat once a week on Sundays, but ever since I started keeping track of my meals I realised that with the holiday season comes more meat and unhealthy delicacies than I’d like to admit.

The grid will take you through a tasteful journey of the transition from the voluptuously greasy banquets of the Pujo (Dussera) season to the spoonful of mother-prescribed nutrition of everyday meals.

Fish swimming in rich gravies liberally seasoned with mustard, mutton rolls with sweet onions and crisp rising puris (fried bread). It’s a Bengali orgy and it’s that one time of year where eating shamelessly and praying with a pure heart merge as one.

Afterwards, however, the leafy greens march in once again taking over most of the table. Methi (fenugreek), Palak (spinach, potatoes, carrots and all the rest. Sadly there are days when meals become a necessity rather than a pleasure. On such days I eat a breakfast fit for a king and a delicious, daily quota of milk that sees me through the day. Flavoured yogurt is welcome at any time- refreshes the palate and the mind.

FoodLab Bangalore – is a 3 week workshop the Center for Genomic Gastronomy conducted with sophomores from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in the fall of 2011. Students will examine innovation and conservation in South Asian food cultures, building on recent research of the Center (utopian cuisines, mutagenic meals) and working towards the next edition of the Planetary Sculpture Supper Club to be held in Bangalore on Nov. 12th.

Follow the conversation all week here on our Blog, join in the comments and use the twitter hashtag #foodlabbangalore to keep up to date.

Hey! This is Vibhuti Kanitkar from Pune, currently studying in Srishti School Of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore. I am a second year foundation course student inclined towards the idea of taking up visual communication for my specialisation. I enjoy and appreciate good food and consider this art project a unique and great opportunity to make my love for food and design meet and work together!

Foodie Me:

With both parents in the Armed forces (military) I grew up an army brat like everyone likes to call me. Having to travel in different parts of the country and actually living there has made me accustomed to a lot of variety of tastes and appreciate different kinds of food. Also the army has a section of soldiers who are trained in cooking for the other soldiers as well as the parties called badakhanas . So there is always a fixed style of food that we got to eat in the army life. The food in army is basically made out of the ration that’s allotted by the Indian army all over the country. These foods comprise of everything from condensed milk to fresh milk ready to make jell-o and custard packets breads eggs vegetables and chicken. A lot of it being made out of tined food there is a particular taste to the food. Most parties have cocktails and drinks with a platter of snacks prior to the dinner. The snacks served are generally fried innovative inventions like cheese toasts, hara-bara kebab, cheese balls, fish fingers, potato fries and tandoori tikkas. The dinner also has a pattern. If its English there will be a cutlet dinner rolls butter a baked dish generally with potatoes and one white or brown sauce chicken dish. If it’s an Indian platter, there will be an Indian dal (legume) an assortment of Indian breads and a paneer (cottage cheese) dish or a mix vegetable and then and chicken or a mutton dish. There is also a Chinese platter. Dinner is always followed with sweets. Even the presentation of how the table is set up to how the food is served is all very disciplined.

Away from this I am from the city of Pune. Our ethnic Maharashtra meal is a simple dal, rice a vegetable and chapatti. However both my grandmothers cook them extremely differently and I love both styles. My maternal grandmother loves cooking her food full of spices and flavors. It is very spicy and has a coconut grounded past base with chilies lime or tamarind and a little sugar. On the contrary my paternal grandmother uses more jaggery than sugar has milder flavors less chilies and whole ground coconut instead of a paste while cooking her dishes.

Coming to family cooking time, my mom, brother and me love cooking. My father loves to help out but stays out of it for the benefit of all those who are going to eat it. When we get down to cooking its always a special meal. My favorite thing to do with mom is when we both cook together experimenting on our own in reproducing a dish or a meal we both ate and really liked. In short I love food. I love cooking it and even more eating it. I consider food as an ultimate art piece as it intrigues the sense of smell, taste, sight, touch and sometimes even hearing

My Tri-misu

Being a foodie and trying out every new place recommended by a friend being my hobby, my list of favorites dishes is rather a long one. But if I had to pick out three that I really like they’d have to be something special. So here goes.

The first one that I’ll like to put into my tri-misu would be Butter-chicken.Butter-chicken being one dish that I have tried in every city I have moved to. The basic ingredients and method of cooking it being the same it is fascinating to see how the little flavoring’s differ from city to city in the south they make it sweeter while in the north its much more heavy. Its one of the most common Indian chicken dish and I love how every place you try it at you know it’s the same but yet different!

The next on the list is an Afghani dish that my mother experimented after eating an Afghani meal. Its called Baujan it basic ingredient or vegetable being a brinjal it take a long time to prepare and is a baked dish made in tomato pure and an Afghani local type of cheese that my mom replaced with processed cheese. It tastes brilliant and the best part I have know I have no idea I am eating an brinjal (eggplant)!

The last is a tosses macaroni-walnut salad in honey mint sauce. It’s easy and fast to make very healthy including its dressing that made out of curd. I love the crunchy walnuts and fresh lettuce that juxtapose the boiled macaroni. The sweet and minty taste of the curd dressing is like the perfect flavoring for it. What’s best about it is that it tastes great and is healthy as well. A rare combination in the food department!

This is basically a salad experiment that my mom made. Its basic ingredients are some fresh lettuce, chopped cubes of cucumber and boiled macaroni. For the garnishing we use yoghurt and mix salt, honey, pepper, and fresh mint finely ground. After the yoghurt mayo is mixed well it only needs to be added to the salad. One can also add some cut cubes of apple or grapes to the salad depending on your taste. Its easy and fast to make.

FoodLab Bangalore – is a 3 week workshop the Center for Genomic Gastronomy conducted with sophomores from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in the fall of 2011. Students will examine innovation and conservation in South Asian food cultures, building on recent research of the Center (utopian cuisines, mutagenic meals) and working towards the next edition of the Planetary Sculpture Supper Club to be held in Bangalore on Nov. 12th.

Follow the conversation all week here on our Blog, join in the comments and use the twitter hashtag #foodlabbangalore to keep up to date.

My name is Tanushree Agarwal. I belong to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, India. But from the past year I have been studying in Bangalore in Srishti College of Art, Design and Technology.

Family Practice

Food in my family is mostly seen as substance that one consumes so as to fulfill their hunger needs and stay healthy. No one in my family spends too much time thinking about what they are going to eat, whereas I will spend time considering what kind of food I will be eating at home, or select where I eat out deliberately. So considering this, the food that is cooked at my house is a bit monotonous and repetitive, every day lunch always includes chapatti, pulses and a vegetable, and dinner usually has two vegetables with chapatti and some sweet. On the other hand breakfast has a bit of variety, everything from South Indian dosas and idlis to sandwiches and cereals is served.

In my house, we usually have a cook who comes once or twice a day to prepare the meals for my parents and me. The cook arrives an hour before lunch or dinner, and once she is done cooking she will leave the dishes on the stove, so that we can heat and eat when are ready.

My mother just hates cooking especially making chapatti is like a nightmare for her. She hates to be in the kitchen and prepare food for others. And even if she manages to make something for us, then we have to make sure we eat it quietly without nagging otherwise we will have to face a whole lot of complaining from her about how we never enjoy the food she cooks. But in the end I just feel happy about the fact that she at least tried to cook something for us and I must say she is not that bad. On the weekends my dad also likes cooking. He mostly cooks non-vegetarian for me and my brother. He is the kind of person who likes following new recipes every time he takes over the kitchen and adding some of his own secret ingredients in whatever he cooks.

The way my family eats has changed significantly since we went from living in a joint family to living separately. Earlier, my grandfather was quite particular with whatever we ate. And back then we all used to have lunch and dinner with the family sitting and eating on one table.

My family tends to draw on general Indian cuisine – not paying too much attention to any one regional style. Even though my family has lived in Rajasthan for over 2 generations, Rajasthani food is only cooked in my house about once a year.
There are three basic things in the Rajasthani authentic cuisine. One is the batti, which is like a bread with a lot of butter, then there is the dal which is a Hindi word for pulses and third thing includes a sweet called churma. Then other than these there are things like vegetables, curd, rice and pickle served with it. It is a task to eat the whole thali (plate) of food that is served. The main reason is because all of it is quite heavy and also not very easy to cook.

On some occasions even I like trying out new recipes. But mostly I do not enjoy cooking Indian food and rather like trying out different cuisines. Things that I cook most often include cakes, cheesecakes and tiramisu.

I mostly developed this fascination for food and trying out new things because of my neighbors back at home. They own a big restaurant in Jaipur, Rajasthan and whenever I visit their house (which is almost everyday) I am made to try some dish or the other. They even bake from home and the cakes they make are just mind-blowing. Looking at them cook I also wanted to know more about cooking. At a point I thought of taking up cooking as my career but somehow it just did not work out.

YUM food

Strawberry Yogurt.

I am just crazy about it. From when I was a child I have always loved curd in general.

But my liking for flavoured yogurt started when I moved to Bangalore. Back at home we always ate home made curd and I used to think flavoured curd would taste horrible but when I tried it here, I knew I could not stay without eating it again and again. I usually eat packaged yogurt. I do not prefer any brand, if I see strawberry yogurt written on any container, I would just buy it without giving it a second thought.

Chicken Momos/dumpling.

It is a Tibetan dish. Momos are made with flour and water dough and is stuffed with a variety of fillings such as vegetables, chicken, beef and many more. They are then steamed and served with a red chilli sauce.
I can survive on momos if gotten a chance. In Banagalore I feel a little depressed about the fact that I do not get them at the place where I stay. I have to travel like two hours just to eat good and authentic chicken momos, which does not happen often. I love every part of it- the juiciness, the steam coming out, the smell and also the spicy sauce served with it.

Pav Bhaji

The authentic North-Indian preparation with a large amount of butter, spices and the soft bread served with it makes me drool and want it all the time. I can eat Pavbhaji anywhere and everywhere. I love eating it with lots of onions and lemon. It is again an item that I crave for in Bangalore. I do not find any authentic place nearby that serves good North-Indian Pavbhaji but I still manage with what I get, as long as it is edible. Back at home, this is one dish that my mom has to cook for me and she cooks it quite well. The best part about it is that one can add any vegetable in it and cook it and you wouldn’t even realize what all is added into it. So I always feel satisfied after eating it as I feel a lot of nutritious vegetables have gone inside my body, which otherwise I would avoid eating.

FoodLab Bangalore – is a 3 week workshop the Center for Genomic Gastronomy conducted with sophomores from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in the fall of 2011. Students will examine innovation and conservation in South Asian food cultures, building on recent research of the Center (utopian cuisines, mutagenic meals) and working towards the next edition of the Planetary Sculpture Supper Club to be held in Bangalore on Nov. 12th.

Follow the conversation all week here on our Blog, join in the comments and use the twitter hashtag #foodlabbangalore to keep up to date.