I was part of a project where we planned a vegan dinner. We had to follow the following conditions:
- each had to prepare a vegan dish of a particular colour
- we would eat with our fingers
We were inspired by the following movies and art projects:
- The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover (1989), by Peter Greenaway
- Like water for chocolate (1992), by Alfonso Arau
- 'The monochromatic diet' project of Sophie Calle
We wanted to challenge our comfort levels by eating with our hands in front of acquaintances. There are numerous taboos surrounding food and its consumption. The fact we adapted easily to the conditions of this project showed unfortunately, no adverse effects. We mixed savoury and sweet and we still managed to keep our food in. Even though food spilling was encouraged, most of us looked very neat in the end. The food was too easy to handle and had we experimented with different consistencies, we would have ended up with different results.
On the flip side, we learned about studio lighting, filming, vegan cooking, and working in a group. I had never used Final Cut Pro before and I managed to make this short movie in a couple of hours. In retrospect, we learned while having fun.