Food, materials and technology: the protagonists of EuroCucina 2024

“All You Have Ever Wanted to Know About Food Design in Six Performances”: already in the title we find the theme that will enliven the central space of the pavilions devoted to EuroCucina during the days of the event. 

Six international food magazines mix excellently with artists, designers and chefs to present performances and experiences that put food-related themes at the centre. 

Six different viewpoints will reflect on the theme of food, the urgencies, the specifics, and the processes and activities linked to a material as ancient as the history of humanity. Food becomes material design, the vehicle of social relationships, conviviality, experiences and history, traditions and relationships. 

Bread, a staple and highly ancestral food, is the protagonist of Objects of Affection, a story from Family Style magazine at its debut, which asked chef Sophie Roe to interpret the concept of affection, tradition and belonging. The same reflections were entrusted to Studio Drift, who for the occasion created a specially designed artefact for the cover of the magazine’s first issue, reflecting on the materials that make up the objects that accompany us every day in our lives as if they were ingredients. 

Francesca Sarti / Arabeschi di latte, paired with the British magazine Linseed Journal, proposes an experience linked to creating dorodango, the Japanese art of modelling clay to make beautiful glossy spheres. Visitors are asked to use raw materials such as grease and mud, in which nuts and flower seeds, cereals, minerals and compost are all mixed together, so helping the planet in different ways. A meditative act that leads to reflection on our relationship with nature.

The Austrian magazine The Preserve Journal, together with the Belgian artist Grace Gloria, proposes a profound reflection on the concept of degrowth through an experience made up of participatory gestures such as preparing pasta dough, barley or dolmades. This concept is closely linked to current systems of mass food production, which can instead be replaced by systems that are more respectful and closer to the land and nature. 

The Korean Magazine F, through its collaboration with the chef Bobby Cortez and the words of Christopher Mascis (US distributor of the magazine), offers a reflection on three critical concepts related to food: starting from the origin, that is, how food is cultivated and produced, we will then move on to transformation, discussing how history, economy and culture influence food. Finally, we come to consumption and how preparation and tasting techniques reflect human and social behaviour. 

The Portuguese of Farta, with their mission to talk about the lesser known and appreciated dishes of Portuguese cuisine, but with close ties to history and the land, present Projecto Matéria and chef João Rodrigues in a performance that revolves around the preparation of Cozido à Portuguesa. Starting from a dish firmly rooted in Portuguese culture, they describe a region and offer a reflection on raw materials and gestures. 

Finally, the performance of the Italian magazine L’integrale with the artist Luca Trevisani and the chef/writer Tommaso Melilli is oriented towards the future and highly speculative. What will we eat from the future sea in which perhaps no more fish will be caught? From this question arises the experience and the installation, which tells of a future in which algae, stones and invasive species will be the raw materials to extract broths, gravies and flavours to recall the taste of the sea.