food design....

Food Design??

In Europe at the moment there are a new wave of young designers that have taken up the art of food design... What alot of "b*&^^" I here you say. And you'd be valid in saying it! Food is food and if you enjoy the colours, flavours and textures of a good heart felt meal then why oh why does it have to be fiddled around with and designed!!

I agree.

Coming from a background where my Father cooks big wholesome Egyptian meals and a mother who grew up on a farm, I learnt at an early age that food is something that should not be complicated or fiddled around with; so much so that my parents have both decided that fine dining is something to not be trusted...

Now...I don't go as far as that but I am a person that loves the simple things, as you might know by now!

But there is something that I find interesting in the Dutch food designer Marije Vogelzang who compiled the beautiful book Eat Love that I bought some time ago.... I was tipped off about this book by Lucy from The Design Files and loved the images that she posted up about the publication way back in January.... I was recovering from hospital at that stage and the sight of these pages made me hobble to the computer and purchase the book on Amazon...

{ it is still not available in this country!}

Above is an event where Marije only used ingredients within her local environment which talked about food miles and sustainability...

And I was not disappointed! Eat Love is a truly interesting book and Marije comes up with a totally different spin on the traditional Dutch cuisine that you may know, which is heavily influenced by Calvinism.

Calvinism, the Northern European religious movement ruined food in the 1800s by taking away the pleasures that eating can bring to the mind body + spirit. Pleasure by way of eating was believed to be 'unholy' and the only way to live was by being measured, bland and ordered! Basically 3 square meals of prayer a day...

So today Dutch designers are mixing things up and changing the way Northern Europeans view and eat food! Re/ designing food culture! Eat Love can then be viewed as a type of manual: A guide to rediscovering food concepts for the Bland!!!

Above is a tasting menu all about The Fibonacci Series with ingredients measured in the Fibonacci system! Its different....

Alot of the tasting menus that are complied by Marije are like children's games and the way that the food has been written and designed is truly lovely...It's like a diary and so it feels inviting...like a personal journey through taste. I don't know if any of you have seen the series Jamie at Home... ? Well its like that... a journal with sketches, hand written doodles and notes across the pages with lots of colour + exploration!

If you want to read more about Marije and her background and notions on food culture check out Dumbo Feather issue 21 as Kate has done a great interviw with this young Dutch designer...

Love it...