Aeroir : A Taste of Place
Today, the food on the average American dinner plate has traveled at least 1,500 miles from farm to fork. In response to this faceless, globalized food culture, growers and eaters, particularly in Northern California, have begun to value and cultivate terroir: the taste of place. This movement began with wine in the 1970s, before spreading to grass-fed beef, artisanal cheese, produce, and, even more recently, to seafood such as oysters, where it is known as “merroir.” Tonight’s dinner extends this concept to another element—the taste of air, or aeroir.
After all, the air from different places, seasons, or eras has its own, unique flavor, created by a combination of anthropogenic activity, geology, weather, topography, and biology.
— Air has a flavor, which we can experience through taste, smell, and even touch.
— The air from different places tastes different. Aeroir is a way to taste place—to compare different locations around the world, but also to know and value one unique location in an entirely new way.
— Aeroir has a vintage. The air from different places tastes different at different times and seasons.
Headlands Dinner Catalogue PDF
Creative Team:
Heather Julius, culinary strategy consultant
Nicola Twilley, Edible Geography & Gastropod
Zack Denfeld, Center for Genomic Gastronomy
Gabe Harp, CoClimate
Headlands Center For the Arts:
Damon Little, Chef
E. Maude Haak-Frendscho, Program Manager
Brooke Clinton, Development Manager