refuge 2017 - heatwave
FUTURE PROOF, FAIR SHARE FARE
Food brings us together, but it also has the capacity in times of turbulence to force us apart. Fair Share Fare is a multi-art form creative work that explores food in/security in a time of climate change. It is shaped around the protocol and shared understanding that food is labour, food is knowledge, food is technology and food is energy. This is not catering. Context is everything. Food will be experienced and expectations are likely to be disrupted.
For REFUGE 2017, the heatwave provides a context to question, what do you know, that you don’t know you know, that we all might need to know in a disaster? Centred around food, Jen Rae of Fair Share Fare presented FUTURE PROOF, to explore this question through a series of task oriented activities for participant involvement where food is created and experienced in the 24-hour period. Skill, labour and knowledge-sharing underpinned the interactions, including food demonstrations exploring the ‘pavement pantry’ (e.g. eating bugs and weeds) and how to collectively cultivate a 45-year old yoghurt culture. Participants were asked to contribute to the Future Proof Survival Guide though a guided interview with Leisa Shelton’s Scribe project, and to help with designated collaborative kitchen-related tasks whilst talking about food futures. Participants were rewarded with Feral Food trade tickets for their contributions. All of the food created was sourced through local harvesting, foraging, bartering, trading and/or indigenous to the soil. The aim of FUTURE PROOF was to boost collective know-how by uncovering alternative economies for nourishment and community.
3 MEALS to ANARCHY or REVOLUTION (Arts House SUPPER CLUB)
Above: Photographs by Emma Byrnes
8 November 2017, Arts House
Food brings us together, but it also has the capacity in times of turbulence to force us apart. The 3 Meals to Anarchy or Revolution Supper Club explores food futures scenarios through a guided meal that could result in anarchy or a revolution.
In 1906, commenting on social unrest, Alfred Henry Lewis stated in Cosmopolitan magazine that “there are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy”. In a world with increasing ecological degradation and greater disparities between the rich and poor, food security is of increasing global concern. What does that mean for Australia? What are some of the actions we can take today to secure food in the future for ourselves and for others? Can disruptions like disasters breed innovative thinking and action or are we really 9 meals away chaos? Three guests led conversations providing a global, local and Indigenous perspective to these questions by dispelling some food myths and offering provocations to chew on.
This special Supper Club took place in the lead up to Refuge, where Arts House was transformed into an emergency relief centre, rehearsing disaster response in a heatwave scenario.
Each of the courses were designed in consultation with the guests to be a provocation related to food ethics (see the menu for details). On the night, participants were advised: Food, refreshments and shelter will be experienced, but be prepared to beg, barter and trade to complete your meal.
Thank you to our moderator Miyuki Jokiranta and guests N'Arwee't Carolyn Briggs (Boon Wurrung Elder), Tammi Jonas (Jonai Farms/Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance) and Jennifer Sheridan (Victorian Eco Innovation Lab). Thank you to Louisa Chalmers for expertise in creating the 'food waste vermouth' and help from Karleng Lim, Latai Taumoepeau, Scotia Monkivitch, Lina Po, Emily Johnson and Amy Williams.
FERAL FEED
Above: Photographs by Emma Byrnes
Camel meat pies. Cricket chiko rolls. Venison donuts. Packaged in handheld form and distributed to those who contributed to the Future Proof Survival Guide. The Feral Feed offered a bite into the politics of eating feral meat in Australia as a viable alternative to popular favourites (pork, beef, lamb and chicken).
The COLLECTIVE 'WE' JAR
Above: Photographs by Emma Byrnes
The Collective 'We' Jar
PAVEMENT PANTRY
Above: Photographs by Emma Byrnes
Bugs. Crickets, silkworms, ants, superworms, mealworms, termites, grasshoppers, and over 1.9K other invertebrates…they’re highly nutritious, undeniably more sustainable and economical to farm than high-value proteins such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken and fish, and surprisingly, delicious. Edible insects have always been a part of the human diet, just more valued as a food source in some cultures over others. With increasing demand for animal-based protein worldwide, a global population expected to tip 9 billion by 2050, and not enough land or resources to fulfil such demands, edible insects are a valuable alternative and asset to global future food security.
During Refuge 2017, Jen Rae from Fair Share Fare conducted a Future Proof food demonstration on edible bugs and weeds. Based on a Canadian First Nations recipe pemmican/pimîhkân (Cree), regarded as the first energy or survival bar, Jen created delicious moxie & vim balls from the Pavement Pantry using edible bugs for the public to try.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recently published a comprehensive report on edible insects that is worth checking out if you’re interested in learning more. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e.pdf
PEEL WHILE YOU WAIT
Above: Photographs by Emma Byrnes
When did apples become 'organic'? Ask Amazon. In a recent trip to NYC, Jen Rae asked a Wholefoods clerk about why their apples were categorised as 'organic', 'local' or 'conventional'. The clerk responded 'conventional' are all apples that are not organic or local. Peel While You Wait was an contemplative activity contributing to the Collective 'We' Breakfast. People were invited to 'Peel While You Wait' for a foot bath, organic, conventional or local apples. The peeled apples were then prepared into three apple sauces for the Collective 'We' Breakfast the following day.
FOOD WASTE DINNER
Above: Photographs by Emma Byrnes
Circle Dance by Emily Johnson + Vicki Couzens.
Thank you to Kumari Fernando, Karleng Lim, Lina Po, Amy Williams, Fiona Hillary, Leisa Shelton-Campbell, Mick Douglas, Indira Narayan, Emily Johnson, Scotia Monkivitch and everyone who helped with Future Proof at Refuge 2017.