Saturday, March 28, 2015

Futurist Foods

In our class presentations, Alex presented on futurism and its impact on art; however, we did not discuss my favorite subsection of futurist art: food. Along with the Futurist Manifesto, Marinetti wrote his "Futurist Cookbook," which contains suggestions for meals that would "create a harmony between man's palate and his life today and tomorrow." Some of the suggestions include:

1. The abolition of the knife and fork. Because, you know, they're definitely weighing us down in the high-speed society of today. Duh.

2. Food sculptures to get your eyes involved in the consumption process.

3. No "speech making or politics" at the table, along with music in prescribed quantities. Music was only played at times during which they would enhance the consumption process directly.

4. Spraying perfumes on food to include the olfactory nerves more. I am not a fan of this one.

5. Some food is only meant for looking at, not for eating.

6. Many small portions of different tastes that come in quick intervals to go along with the speed of society.

And what of traditional kitchen instruments? Nay, nay! The true futurist cook does not use a baster or a colander, but instead uses scientific instruments like ozonizers, ultra-violet lamps, and centrifugal autoclaves.

Furthermore, perhaps most shockingly, he abolished pasta and spaghetti because it robbed the populace of its creative impulse and replaced it with empty hopes and lethargy.

Read more here: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/21/futurist-cookbook-marinetti/

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This actually makes a lot of sense since the futurists were so concerned with the explosion of the senses. They wanted to overload our sensory organs, forcing us into a state of mental chaos because of the fact that we couldn't comprehend everything going on, forcing us to look past our current selves.