FOOD, CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION: A REVIEW OF "YOU AND I EAT THE SAME"

A Muse Bouche | Jordan Fee

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Though we are currently living in a world where many are trying to draw distinctions between people and place, there are still some who choose to bring us together. You and I Eat the Same, the first in a series of “Dispatches” by the Danish non-profit organization MAD, seeks to serve this very purpose by showing how food can connect us in ways that are exciting and unexpected.

Photograph Courtesy of Jordan Fee

The book itself is comprised of a series of short essays, some of which only amount to a single page. However, while the passages themselves can be quite brief, the arguments contained within them are no less powerful as a result. The topics range from dinner manners, to the science behind fire, to the history of the sesame seed. In one entry, titled “People Will Eat Anything," Aralyn Beaumont and Marissa Gery provide a six-page list of foods that people eat around the world. While the concept might seem simplistic, the sheer number of different foods is quite astounding. Overall, each of the essays present a complex idea in a manner that is legible and engaging.

Stylistically, the book itself is quite beautiful. It is more sizeable than average, but it does not feel heavy. In many ways, it resembles the art-books and catalogues that museums publish following the opening of an exhibition. The photography in the book is also quite stunning, providing visual stimulation even when the text itself is fun enough.

Ultimately, it is a book that is both humble and extraordinary. It includes some of the most emotionally powerful writing that I have read in a very long time, which I believe is something that the museum field lacks quite heavily. Most institutions tend to be overly didactic, but could use a heavy dose of what I will call affectionate writing – something that speaks to the heart, rather than to the mind.

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On our reading list. @themadfeed’s book, You and I Eat the Same. Authored by @reneredzepinoma and @chrisyingz, this book explores the ways in which cooking and eating connect us across cultural and political borders, making the case that we should think about cuisine as a collective human effort in which we all benefit from the movement of people, ingredients, and ideas. Image via @themadfeed

A post shared by Sandro Demaio Foundation (@sandrodemaiofoundation) on Oct 31, 2018 at 6:32pm PDT

Even though the book is quite modest - it is, after all, only the first in the series – the people who produced it have extensive backgrounds when it comes to the development of modern food culture. René Redzepi, the founder of MAD, is also the founder of the restaurant Noma, which received the award for Best Restaurant in the World for three years in a row, from 2010 to 2012. This restaurant is famous for creating food using ingredients from the Nordic countries, which at the time was a groundbreaking idea in the world of gastronomy.

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Some unusual finds for this time of the year by our forager @michael_fitzner! 🤔🌱 Clockwise from the top: Chickweed, yellow cress, red dead-nettle, onion cress, dandelion, ground elder, hairy bittercress, winter cress and nettle (ramson in the middle).

A post shared by noma (@nomacph) on Feb 27, 2019 at 2:51am PST

Additionally, just two months ago, the Danish government announced a partnership with MAD to create a food academy in Denmark, according to this New York Times Article, will “tentatively called the Gastro Academi." This is a great step forward in the world of sustainable food, as it proves that an area that was once overlooked has now become a powerful source of creativity and environmentalism.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in the topics of food, sustainability, and immigration. I believe that it can serve as an example of the kind of writing that we can produce as professionals in our own field.

If that doesn't fill you up, you can also check out this lecture on "The Taste of Wheat," or this lecture about tracing coffee back to its producers. Both offer insight into some of the most pressing issues in the world of food!