On behalf of The New School, Food Design Society, and Food Design North America we are happy to share with you the 2nd International Conference on Food Design Conference Proceedings.
View the Conference Proceedings by professionals, practitioners, and researchers discussing the fundamental aspects of this burgeoning field.
This video from an interview with Pierre Thiam this past Spring is a must see.
Sponsored by the Food Studies Program (http://www.newschool.edu/public-engag… ) and the Jazz and Contemporary Music Program in the College of Performing Arts (http://www.newschool.edu/jazz) at The New School, chef and restaurateur Pierre Thiam, author of the successful cookbook Senegal: Modern Senegalese Recipes from the Source to the Bowl, will discuss the unique food culture of his native Senegal – as well as the influence of African practices and dishes on the development of American foodways – with Fabio Parasecoli, director of Food Studies Initiatives at The New School (http://www.newschool.edu).
As cosmopolitan gourmets continue looking for the next new trend, many culinary traditions around the world are just now drawing the attention they deserve. West African cuisines are finally acquiring visibility, thanks to their interesting ingredients, their complexity, and their long history. The conversation will also explore the diffusion of West African cuisines abroad and the problems they face, from product availability to business challenges and customers perception.
Despite the unusual chill, on Monday morning, the rua Vicente de Souza market in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Botafogo was bustling with shoppers. Nannies with children and housekeepers mingled with the elderly, leisurely inspecting the products on sale in the stalls: meat, fish, vegetables, fruit. All looks good and perfectly acceptable: clients here look for no-nonsense goods, which the vendors mostly get from the city central wholesale market. Here and there, some produce is marked as organic, or as coming directly from the countryside. Overall, no one seems overly concerned about the provenance of what they buy: price is the main discriminant. This market could not have possibly been more different from the “feira” in which I had participated in the preceding weekend.
Organized by the organization called Junta Local, it was in between a farmers’ market, a street food festival, and a full-on party with a DJ spinning all kinds of music and live bands performing. The feira took place in the Casa da Gloria, a gracious building surrounded by a garden, next to a church on the top of a hill. The atmosphere was relaxed and infectiously merry, with visitors milling around, buying groceries, taking advantage of all the food on sale, chatting and drinking. The crowd was also quite different from what I saw at the neighborhood market in Botafogo. Here there were hipsters side by side with young families with children, as well as middle aged or-mature people. Buyers were inquisitive and engaged, asking the vendors what the food was, how it was cooked, and where the products came from. The vendors, who were more than happy to engage them, were also varied and interesting. Among those I chatted with, Bruno Karraz and his business partner Yan sold vegan sorbets made of organic fruit too ripe to be sold to most consumers and served in biodegradable containers made of cassava. Fernando Betim, a professor of architecture, represented the products of a whole community of farmers and animal breeders in the nearby state of Minas Gerais: the smoked lamb leg was delicious. Fabricio de Andrade, a mushroom producer from the same state, was selling fresh products and serving a delicious soup of mushrooms and ñame. Vicente Saint-Yves, a former chef who had worked in Barcelona, was roasting sausage made with meat from animals his neighbors had raised, while his own animals were still growing. Maria al Warrak, a Syrian refugee, was selling kibbehs (I was later informed that she was not paying for her space, thanks to an agreement between Junta Local and Caritas to help displaced people to start their food businesses). I talked with Daniel Martins, a cheese and beer expert who decried the impact that The Mercosur trade agreement had on the dairy industry in Brazil (and his family cheese business) in the 1990s while lamenting the fact that the law in Rio de Janeiro state does not allow for the sale of raw milk cheese (which nevertheless can be imported from abroad). These people were passionate, well-informed, mostly educated, and with cultural and social capital to spare.
They have created a vibrant sense of community thanks to Junta Local, the brainchild of Thiago Gomide Nasser, Henrique Moraes, and Bruno Negrão, the three of them between their mid 20s and their mid 30. They launched the organization to allow urban dwellers to enjoy good food that is produced sustainably and equitably, while giving urban and rural small producers and artisans the opportunity to sell directly to consumers, with the hope to communicate their values and their goals. What sets Junta Local apart from similar organizations is that they also set up what they call the “virtual basket.” In the weeks when the feira is not taking place, consumers can order produce and products from the organization’s website and pick it up at a specific place and time. Unlike other CSAs, consumers only buy what they want, so that producers know exactly how much to bring to the distribution point, without any waste. Junta Local is less than two years old, but already 150 producers and artisans have joined, and hundreds of consumers patronize both the internet website and the feiras. The organization just launched what they define “modelo ajuntativo,” a new kind of participative involvement that makes producers stakeholders in the project, but not quite like a cooperative. The producers are enthusiastic, having found a sense of community among themselves, communication and logistical support, as well as a steady source of revenue. For a few, the feira has allowed them to stay in business and even to thrive. The Junta Local founders and members are figuring things out as they go, now attracting the attention of media and local government bodies, which see the potential of this food network to provide an innovative alternative to traditional markets, as the one in rua Vicente de Souza.
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When I was in Italy, last summer, I was intrigued by the growing popularity of what now Italians call “street food,” using the English language expression to indicate, well… street food. Cibo di strada, in Italian. Street food is definitely not a novelty. The dwellers of ancient Roman cities, for instance, were able to eat out of their home: they could patronize taverns or buy ready-made snacks and meals to go from all kinds of roadside stalls. As kitchens were absent in most buildings where the lower classes lived, acquiring cooked food was a necessity. Such customs thrived for centuries, reflecting changes in times, political dynamics, and cultural environments. I remember, growing up as a child in Rome, to see people frying what in the US are known as zeppole in big oil vats on the street. To this day, it is not uncommon to see kiosks selling porchetta, delicious pork roasted with herb and spices, sliced, and served in crunchy bread rolls. In summer, watermelon sellers hawk their goods on the city curbs, a Godsend in the hot Roman nights.
Side by side with these more traditional expressions, street food has found a new life in Italy. Entrepreneurs and creative chefs provide affordable and stimulating dishes that are inspired by the old ones, but often try to elevate them to respond to the preferences of their clientele. Their customers tend to be young and of the “foodie” conviction, always looking for affordable but intriguing flavor combinations that maintain some connection with the past, while using good, local ingredients. Healthier, safer production environments also increase the attractiveness of these new offerings. In fact, in Italy these days, street food – from takeaway pizza to fried rice arancini – is mostly sold not from stalls but out of small stores that enjoy a closer relationship to the street than regular restaurants. These eateries often have few seats available, forcing patrons to eat standing or to take away food. Some of the most interesting food in the Italy is now sold under this label. Gambero Rosso, one of the best known food and wine magazines in the country, has started publishing a Street Food guidebook, while websites such as Via dei Gourmet use street food as a distinct category, knowing that its users know precisely what they refer to.
The gentrification of street food, while overall embraced as a positive evolution of the Italian culinary landscape, risks pushing aside food providers that are not able to speak the same language as the popular upstarts or are not willing to change their product and their sale methods to attract the clientele who are ready to buy the new “street food”, with more originality, better quality, and possibly at higher prices. Such trends are also visible in the American landscape. Food trucks are enjoying growing success, as chefs and entrepreneurs consider them as viable alternative to brick and mortar restaurants, especially in cities where real estate costs are prohibitive. The food they offer is exciting, and they reflect the aesthetics and the communication modes of their clientele. It is not uncommon for food trucks to announce their locations on social media, and for their followers to look for them, wherever they are. The more traditional street vendors, those selling coffee and hot dogs, or the peddlers bringing fruits and vegetables of the curbs of disadvantaged neighborhoods, outside of the more glamorous background of the farmers’ markets, are often ostracized and treated quite differently, including by the local authorities and the police. As I have discussed in a previous post, the Street Vendor Projecthas been raising funds and working with underprivileged sellers and hawker to represent them in policy and administrative discussion.
We will discuss these changes and tensions at the New School, in a discussion panel on the history of street food in New York City. Street food has historically played a crucial role in the way New Yorkers produce, buy, and consume food. From carts bringing produce from nearby farms to immigrant vendors providing traditional foods to their community, and later to the city at large, food has always been present on the streets. The panel will explore the past and present of street food in NYC, looking at culinary elements, culture, and the evolution of policy regulating the way New Yorkers were allowed to sell and access food in public spaces.
