Naima Khan samples fire flavoured chocolate and ice-cream for monkeys at The Experimental Food Society Spectacular.
At another annual exhibition of “groundbreaking” food art, The Experimental Food Society fills The Brickhouse with an array of displays and demonstrations designed to push boundaries and challenge our perceptions of food.
It was probably Roald Dahl who set the bar for food experimentation with support from Enid Blyton and her Toffee Shocks and Pop Biscuits. Fictional though their creations may be, we have the privilege of living in an age when edible masterpieces akin to Willy Wonka's are in existence courtesy of the likes of chef Heston Blumenthaal, and artist Kittiwat Unarrom.
In light of such culinary genius, the array of businesses and artists at The Experimental Food Society Spectacular disappoints. They fall into two categories: artists who use food as a material for their work, like margarine sculptor Smith; or artists intent on making the experience of eating not only new but unforgettable, like Blanch and Shock and their cocktail-filled spherical jellies.
Lilly Vanilli’s anatomical hearts – made from red velvet cake and covered in a delicious sounding, gruesome looking strawberry concoction – are among the most memorable food sculptures. As is the incredibly detailed cake sculpture of a turtle in sand from Lousie Hill of Love to Cake. A chocolate bust that took impressive skill and patience is presented by Paul Wayne Gregory, who really has a duty to make an edible head of Lionel Richie à la the 'Hello' video.
Less impressive is his crackling chocolate which, though designed to push the boundaries of the taste experience, proves to be gourmet but nothing new. In the same vein, though more noteworthy are the new ice-cream flavours from Ginger’s Comfort Emporium such as Ginger Malt, a ginger beer-based flavour, Blueberry and Grappa and “This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven”: banana and peanut ice cream with bitter chocolate. Served in mini-cones from a vintage ice cream van, they’ve got one up on Ben and Jerry, but only one mind.
Sharon Baker’s dough sculptures and foodscapes by Carl Warner fall into the same category as chocolate portraits by Sid Chidiac, but each artist proves a different rule about our perceptions of food. Carl Warner’s foodscapes have a sense of humour about them and present an impossible world that recalls a child-like imagination. Baker’s life-size woman and wall of bread boobs demonstrate the resonance her work has with her audience by using a material and a subject so universally familiar. Compare her work to that of Kittiwat Unarrom (not at the exhibition) – creator of morbidly bruised, battered and edible body parts made of bread, cashews and raisins – and she falls short.
The highlight of the event is Chocolatier Paul A Young who presents his unforgettable Burning Ember Truffle. Designed to look like a glowing cinder, and filled with black cardamom, tobacco and chilli, it’s a dark, smokey chocolate that conjures images of a crackling fire. His playground of chocolate creations, including the Christmas-like port and stilton truffle, reminds us that food has richer meanings beyond satisfying hunger. It forms memories, occasions, and has always been used to commemorate and celebrate. With this in mind, Young leads the pioneering of food art and is one of the few who achieves what the exhibition sets out to do: challenge our perceptions of food as a medium for art.
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