Delicate — New Food Culture
Food is something serious and eating is not only a physical need or routine. The characteristics of food are often based on a rich world of different cultures, ceremonies and social interactions. If eating is an aspect of our lives that we can’t take lightly, cooking is the creative part of it — a true form of art built around endless possibilities and infinite combinations. This is why Gestalten dedicated its new publication Delicate: New Food Culture to the universe of food. Delicate is a delicious visual collection of all those cultures around the world that deal with food in a different way: with more fun, creativity and care.
The book is structured in five sections, each one focused on a specific topic. ‘The New Deal’ shows us a world of independent food stores and producers, while ‘The Sky Is the Limit’ presents the heterogeneous mobile and open air food business panorama. ‘Foodzine’ is a selection of the best publications, such as independent magazines or books, that talk about the subject. Finally, ‘Food for Thought’ and ‘Breaking Bread’ introduce the role of artists, designers, illustrators or photographers and their projects about food, as well as peculiar food events or odd performances.
Andrew Tarlow, Anna Dunn, August Heffner, Diner Journal
Moritz Meyer-Buck’s McDonald’s Dinner is among my favorite projects in the book. In this project, a fast food-critisizing customer turns a quick meal into an elegant, slow and enjoyable dinner (a similar project is NYC Dining Car by the ‘A Razor a Shiny Knife’ collective, which we have already discussed here).
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Conflict Kitchen is another remarkable experience that’s featured in Delicate. This project, which kicked off in 2010, consists of a take-away restaurant that serves only cuisine from countries the United States is currently in conflict with. Besides food, the restaurant offers events and discussion about international conflicts and politics to encourage people to openly face serious issues regarding US foreign policy in their daily lives.
Prang Lerttaweewit, Anders Mellbratt, Josefin Vargö, Mixology 2/3
Delicate narrates new food culture from different points of view and teaches us that eating is much more than a physical necessity — it is something that can make you think and sometimes entertain you, a necessity for our bodies as well as for our spirits. Summarized in one word, it is something delicate.
Delicate: New Food Culture
R. Klanten, K. Bolhöfer, A. Mollard, S. Ehmann
Gestalten, Berlin
240 pages, full color, flexicover
21 x 26 cm
ISBN: 978-3-89955-369-7
Click here to order ‘Delicate: New Food Culture’.
