The Ecology of Food Masterclass with Charles Michel
In Jan, 2023, I had the honor to give a speech about Charles Michel’s Masterclass of Ecology Food in 2022 at one of the most renown art schools in Taipei, Taiwan.
First, I talked about Gastrophysics, which is a book that profoundly changed my ideas towards dining experience, it was written by Professor Charles Spence at the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford University. Charles Michel (hereafter Charles) was then, the resident chef at the university, and was co-working to contribute the researches of experimenting between science and food/flavors, as well as culinary multisensory perception and experience design.
Then I invited people to glance at the wild foraging we did, as how we harvested the freshest ingredients in Charles’ family farm, and turned the food into paintings on the table as an art form while enjoyed the touch of the meals with our hands, which was one of the most intimate connections that I had with natural food at the time.
I shared also, the ingredients which we received by local farmers, and co-created our meals all together with Charles and the Ecology class participants.
When the compostable toilet at the farm was introduced to the audience, I welcomed them to think about home ecology, how we interact with our surroundings, what we put in the fridge, how this action can be a waste if we are not paying enough attention, and how we ought to think about the garbage we give back to the environment; if we are not careful, what we leave to the planet can be harmful and it can come back to harm our eco system, and human beings of course. It should be a righteous act for us to maintain an eco-friendly concept, and give back the land the nutrition we receive from it (i.e. plants that grow in the soil, animals who eat the plants, Bees pollinate plants, maintain ecological balance, maintain the diversity of plant species, and at the same time improve the yield and quality of crops).
• To end the talk, I invited people to consider a few concepts:
• Choose local farmers
• Become plasticarian
• Buy consciously
• Cook wisely
• Eat “real” food
• Food is sacred