The Airplane Food Restaurant
Last week our friends of Amsterdam-based creative collective Les Oiseaux de Merde (‘The Shit Birds’ in English) organized the very first edition of the Airplane FoodRestaurant at Roest, one of the newest hotspots in the Dutch capital. The birds transformed an old hangar into a pop-up restaurant for 200 people that felt like anairplane interior. Stewardesses served the best meals the airlines can offer, three people spoke about food initiatives for a better world, and Dutch fashion designer Hans Ubbink ran a fashion show in the airplane gangway.
Justus Bruns and Mingus Vogel, the young men responsible for this initiative, explain that their idea came up when they flew back from Congo earlier this year. They loveairplane food and think it’s something to look forward to whey you’re travelling. So why should this only by available in airplanes? They decided to buy 200 airplaneseats and 200 pre-packaged meals at an official airplane catering company in Maastricht.
“Airplane food has a bad reputation. Weird, because the meals are designed by top chefs and they are meant to be liked by everyone. (…) It is quick, it contains all the necessary ingredients and it always has very diverse tastes in one dinner. (…) The Airplane FoodRestaurant is the opportunity for airlines to show that they do serve good meals.”
Although the concept of an Airplane Food Restaurant is great in itself, Bruns and Vogel wanted to communicate a moral message about the future of our food. They invited three food-minded presenters with ideas for a better world. Samuel Levie, also known as the Amsterdam version of Jamie Oliver, explained how his sausages contribute to a better world. Curaçao-born Roy Silos presented his Cross Border Relations project, that sells local meals from Curaçao to large cruise ships. Daniel Knoop talked about his initiative Congo Incentivators SPRL, that focuses on cassava to transform food production in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Knoop’s project allows local farmers to focus on and increase production, increases the chain’s productivity and produces a superior, affordable product that is unique in the market.
“Yes, of course”, Bruns answered when I asked him if we can expect a second version of the Airplane Food Restaurant. But unfortunately not in the next months, since Bruns is going to settle in New York City for another neat project of his hand at aims to replace commercial messages with video art: Times Square to Art Square. Update: We just heard Les Oiseaux plan to organize a second Airplane Food event on 28 October! We’ll keep you posted.
Photos: Yuki Kho (click here for more pictures of the event!)
