food – Page 7 – Kristen Baumlier

Tag: food

A “Collective Cake” and Local Food – Artist and Cultural Producer Milanda Sipos

Posted on June 5, 2012June 6, 2012 by Kbaumlier

At Camp Pixelache, the festival/unconference event that I attended last month in Helsinki, Finland, I got a chance to talk to Melinda Sipos, who was an artist in residence in the Pixelache Micro-Residency program. Melinda is from Budapest, Hungary, and has recently been doing projects about food and sustainability.

The group Pixelache turned 10 this year – and at the event there was to be a celebration of the group turning 10 years old. Milanda organized the creation of a “collective cake.” For this – participants were encouraged to bring a local ingredient from our home country. These ingredients were going to be used to create a cake.

It turned out that there were so many ingredients – that Melinda had to create a cake that was kind of like ladyfingers – and then she setup a buffet of all of the ingredients that people brought. I brought local honey from Ohio. There was chocolate, chocolate noodles from Germany, jellies from Finland, England, and Estonia, several bottles of alcohol, and some other ingredients.

The other project that Milanda tested out was to test a data-visualization model of the food that was served in the cafeteria on the main Pixelache day at the Arbis center, where the event was held. She developed ideas around catering. She wrote about the project, “Usually catering is considered as a necessary element of an event, but we tend to take it for granted that we are served with food and drinks. This experiment focuses on two main questions: how catering affects the ecological footprint of the whole event (especially traveling) and can we balance this out with a joint effort? In addition the goal is also to raise awareness on what we eat by providing information on the ingredients (their “stories”) and through a special arrangement in the restaurant space.”

At the event – there was an amazing carrot soup, a mushroom soup, a pasta dish with fish, and another dish that Milanda worked with the cook at the cafeteria to source out local ingredients, and to keep track of the food miles of all of the food. I had a gluten-free version of the soup – and it was amazing.

At 4 pm – it was time for the 10 year anniversary cake. The cake and the ingredients were put out on a table. Everyone took some cake, and then added ingredients to the cake a la carte. I tested 3 kinds of honeys, had some great jam, also some chocolate. It was a nice moment of the conference – with everyone talking, eating, and gathering around the food table.

Milanda told me about some of her work at Kitchen Budapest – a center of art and technology, and also about her new project called Based on Pig which explores food and culture. Based on the Pig is a project that has the goal to discover the Hungarian Kitchen, especially the eating habits of the contemporary Budapest people using artistic research methods. She and her collaborators are exploring what stories, traditions, and legends a certain food, ingredient or living creature used in the kitchen has. Questions they are exploring include, “What information is available online about food, and what do we face in the market?” The project aims to map the cultural framework of our food-related decisions and also to do some kitchen experiments. They kicked off the project with the ingredient of pigs. They plan to go after many other animals and vegetables with the project.

To learn more about her work, check out a video interview with Milanda on Vimeo that Pixelache recently posted. You also can read about the project Pig, and learn more about some Hungarian food at www.baedonpig.com/en/.

Links:

Milanda Sipos @ Camp Pixelache Interview – on Vimeo

www.basedonpig.com/en/

Kbaumlier Food Images on a Billboard in the Detroit Metro Area until June 24th, 2012

Posted on May 28, 2012May 29, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Yesterday the Digital Billboard Art Project went live – a project where artists can submit images to be displayed on a public digital billboard. I have 45 images that are showing startinh yesterday, May 28th, and will run until June 24, 2012 in the Detroit Metro area (Macomb County), MI.

I submitted slides about food – and made a series of images where foods are shown in both abstract and recognizable views, combined with words and slogans often used by advertisers to promote packaged food. A tomato with the word “SAME GREAT TASTE,” a papaya with the words “50% LESS FAT*” and images of rice, soybeans, a peach, and cheese are in the series.

Each of the food featured in the series has an interesting story related to genetic engineering or modern farming practices. I am interested to have the images show in Detroit, a city where it is reported that over half of the residents do not have easy access to nutritious food.

If you live in the Detroit area you can see the billboard in Utica, facing west and can be seen by traffic traveling east bound on Hall Rd (M-59). The billboard can also be seen from a parking lot shared by Muldoon’s Restaurant at 7636 Auburn Road and the Utica Fire and Police Department. My pieces are 7 minutes of the entire 24 hour loop – and will be seen at : 1:09 AM, 3:29 AM, 5:49 AM, 8:09 AM, 10:29 AM, 12:49 PM, 3:09 PM, 5:29 PM. 7:49 PM, 10:09 PM.

The Billboard Art Project is a project that acquires digital billboards normally used for advertising and repurposes them as roadside galleries – showing images from artists. Types of work that may be displayed include images created specifically for the billboard as well as images of previously made art adapted to the format. No two Billboard Art Project shows are alike; each city features new work.

This year upcoming shows include other locations such as Richmond, VA; Salem, OR; Albany, NY, and Atlanta, GA. The Detroit show is unique in that the images will be up in a month. Documentation of the billboard is not up yet – I will post when the roadside photos of the Billboard Art project are posted in Flickr.

Links:

billboardartproject.org/cities/detroit.html

Smog Tasting With Egg Whites: The Center of Genomic Gastronomy

Posted on May 25, 2012May 29, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Ever get a mouthful of smog? In big cities, people breathe it every day. The Smog project by The Center for Genomic Gastronomy explores the taste of smog – by whipping up egg foams in cities with lots of smog, like Bangalore. Why egg foams? Egg foams are 90% air – so in making an egg white, you can actually capture the quality of the air in the taste.

The project is a combination of scientific study and conceptual art, and has been done by Zackery Denfeld and Cathrine Kramer, with seven other students of the Center for Genomic Gastormony. The team was researching biosensors, plants and animals in nature that indicate the state of the environment in their natural state. Densfeld and Kramer wondered if they could test for outdoor air quality by whipping egg whites and capturing some of the air and found that by asking others to eat something made with smog created a strong reaction by others.

Smog is difficult to see, and the damage it causes takes a long time to show. For the project, Densfeld, Kramer, and the students from the Center headed out to different parts of Bangalore with whisks, and made meringues from the batter that came back. Then next offered free samples to visitors, telling them about where they were made, and with what smog.

Can you taste smog? Could you send sweet egg white smog treats to politicians, business owners, and others to draw attention to air pollution issues? The team is planning to explore this – and to continue to generate dialogue about smog and air quality.

The project was part of the “Edible” exhibit at the Science Gallery at Dublin’s Trinity College earlier this year. Want to test your air quality? Whip up a batch of merengues out on the street – and see what you think after eating it.

Image Source:
Smog tasting Project

Links:

Smog tasting Project

About the Edible Exhibit at Science Gallery in Dublin

Kbaumlier’s Food Images to be Shown on Billboard in Detroit, MI

Posted on April 28, 2012April 29, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Today I just submitted 45 images to the Digital Billboard Art Project, a project where artists can submit images to be displayed on a public digital billboard. My images will be shown from May 28 – June 24, 2012 in the Detroit Metro area (Macomb County), MI.

The project was started by David Morrison, who got interested in this venue when seeing test images on a new billboard being played in 2005. He writes, “ Advertising is so epidemic and pervasive that people pay good money for clothes so that they can advertise corporate entities like Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, and their favorite sports team… So, when you see a billboard that isn’t telling you what to buy or who to trust, it carries the impact of the unexpected.”

In 2010, he acquired 24 hours of time from Lamar Advertising in October 2010. The billboard time was purchased and a date set. When he was discussing the project with a friend, he immediately asked to participate, and soon a call for artists was sent out through email. At this first project, the Richmond Virginia Art project had over 30 participants with images that ranged from being serious to comical.

This year upcoming shows include other locations such as Richmond, VA; Salem, OR; Albany, NY, and Atlanta, GA. The Detroit show is unique in that the images will be up in a month. I will post again when the show opens, and also when the documentation of the billboard is up.

Links:

Billboard Art Project

From Hunting and Gathering to Drive Thrus and Microwaves: How Much Time do we Spend Eating and Drinking?

Posted on February 6, 2012February 6, 2012 by Kbaumlier

All modern humans were hunter-gatherers from 2,000,000 until 10,000 years ago, spending most of their time looking for food. Everyday activites were looking for berries and nuts, and hunting animals. Stone Age people moved from place to place looking for food, but they stayed in one place as long as there was food and water.

Eventually people learned to grow their own fruits and vegetables, which was the start of the agricultural revolution. People built small mud houses and began to tame and keep animals.

Over dinner last night, I was thinking about how much time I spend preparing my food and the change in our eating (and hunting patterns) that has occurred in the last 10,000 years.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey (ATUS) collects information on how Americans spend their time—on paid work, household activities, child care, recreation, and numerous other activities. There is a eating and health section that is done, which contains questions on whether respondents ate or drank while engaged in other activities, such as driving or watching TV; general health, height, and weight; participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program); children’s consumption of meals obtained at day care, school, or summer programs; grocery shopping and meal preparation; and household income.

The results from the study in 2008 showed that on an average day in 2008, Americans age 15 and older spent 67 minutes eating and drinking as a “primary,” or main, activity, and 28 minutes eating and 81 minutes drinking (except plain water) as a secondary activity. A secondary activity is multitasking- where a person is —eating while engaged in another activity considered primary by the individual. Such as watching television, driving a car, working, etc.

With the agricultural revolution we have greatly adapted how we get our food and the way we live, but our bodies are still pretty similar to what it was 10,000 years ago. Today spend a lot less time working on getting food to eat and spend more time working and living our “modern way of life.”

There are still a few parts of the world that still hunt and gather food, and resist changing to our modern agricultural systems such as in Western Australia or in the Andaman Islands.

Since our ancestors spent so much time hunting our bodies developed the “human fight or flight response.” This is our response to stress – which in hunting would result aggressive, combative behavior or by fleeing potentially threatening situations. It is debatable if our stress level and if our fight or flight response is more active more or less today. It is proven athat we spend a lot less time worrying, getting, and preparing our food.

Images:
USDA – Economic Research Service – Eating and Health Module (2008)
johnbarban.com

Links:

USDA – Economic Research Service – Eating and Health Module (2008)