The Center for Genomic Gastronomy

Food was always a first preference for me before anything. Since childhood i was a big fan of bread and milk. In my teenage I used to eat a loaf at a time. I used to have glasses of milkshakes a lot of fried food etc. Everything was high calorie. I was in a stage of obesity.

After some year I had a strict appetite management where I had to sacrifice all the dairy, bakery food. The junk was literally thrown out of the house. I was given staple Indian food. The lunch and dinner was on time. I was been introduced to all kinds of leafy vegetables, porridges, oats, fibre etc.

After this course which I am doing it past 15 days my perspective food have changed I have constantly been trying to eat different kind of dishes tasting variety of cuisines. And as i am attending lot of parties I had Lebanese, Chinese, Italian, American food etc. Presently I do workout so I do try to avoid junk food in some situations can’t and I have to do an extra set. The food which I get in the mess is not that nutritious. But I to try get nutrition by eating fruits, eating egg whites, chicken etc.

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.

When i started off with thinking about what i eat everyday, i was more of the opinion that we eat the same exact food repeated on the menu lists of our mess. The same vegetables for the same meal for the exact same day of the week. Systematized and monotonous.

Now  when I actually started documenting the food I ate it was almost an educational experience. To start off, eating food, by the age of 20 is a very reflex action. It is hard to remember ‘oh i have to take a snap shot!’.and also i like attacking my food when i see it rather than overanalyzing it so its sort of an instinct for me to start off.i believe its probably because m such a foodie my brain stops functioning when i see food unless of-course when the food looks unappetizing. hence visual documentationpresented food to half eaten meals all comprise of the

Secondly it wasn’t as bad and monotonous to live and eat hostel food. majorly cause our backup plans are more in use. from lays to biscuits to coffees and eating meals out are very frequent. also it happened that i visited my ant one weekend hence got the luxury of eating home food. In all, very few meals are actually eaten from the mess. Some meals are skipped, but overall, the food we eat is most definitely not monotonous – post the documentation results

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.

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.