Speculative Dinner Performance – Superfood of Draught

Food in the age of climate change

UnDesignUnit takes the successful format of the Speculative Dinner Performance further under the title “Superfood of Draught” in cooperation with various partners from culture and civic society.

What will we eat in 2050? The Speculative Dinner Performance ventures to look into the future and asks how we will nourish ourselves when the conditions for food production in our latitudes will be transformed by increasingly dry conditions and other climatic changes. Will we grow exotic fruit in our regions or rely on salt-tolerant plants that prosper with sea water? Will ancient hyperlocal crops or edible wild plants prevail over hyper-seasonal products of globalization that are available all year long like the tomato or avocado? Will seaweed become an important source of nutrients in extreme climate conditions? Or will the undemanding and protein-rich quinoa become a new staple food for us?

UnDesignUnit has developed a menu in collaboration with Christine Krauss (ChirpFood), which takes three future scenarios as a point of departure asking what might disappear from our menu, and what might enter it? And how do these futures taste?

The dishes are based on three potential future scenarios and offer, in combination with customized interactive elements, a playful and sensual participative event which may inspire us to challenge our eating habits and to further our sense of taste.

While we are tasting possible ingredients and dishes, we reflect on the possible courses of action we have in the here and now in addressing the challenges of climate change and its multi-faceted causes,  and we discuss with invited guests from theory, research and practice the extent to which the scenarios, or individual assumptions underlying the scenarios, are likely to be true.

Superfood of Draught (Dresden Edition)

08.07.2021, DHMD

Client: Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden

Context: Framework programme of the “Future Food” exhibition

Panel with invited guests from theory, research and practice:

Dr. Johannes Franke, climate scientist, Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, Dresden; Frank Gaupels, head of SalFar project, Ökowerk Emden foundation; Dr. Christoph Neinhuis, Institute of Botany, TU Dresden l Botanical Garden Dresden

Culinary realization: Christine Krauss, ChirpFood

With friendly support of the Museumsküche and Ökowerk Emden

Photos: Oliver Killig

Superfood of Draught (Munich Edition)

21.09.2021, Community Kitchen, Neu-Perlach, Munich

Client: Netzwerk Klimaherbst e.V. in cooperation with Münchner Ernährungsrat

Context: Opening event of the 15th Münchner Klimaherbst

Panel with invited guests from health sciences, regional agriculture and local government:

Markus Bogner, organic farmer, Bad Wiessee; Christine Kugler, referent for climate and environmental protection, City of Munich; Dr. med. Peter von Philipsborn, Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology, Pettenkofer School of Public Health, LMU

Culinary realization: Christine Krauss, ChirpFood in cooperation with Clarissa Juse l Paradiesfutter

With friendly support of Günes Seyfarth and the Community Kitchen

Photos: Yavor Lalev

Superfood of Draught (Leipzig Edition)

28.09.2021, canteen of the Kirow-Werke, Leipzig

Client: Wider Sense TraFo gGmbH

Context: Evening event of the forum Kreativpotentiale 2021

Panel with invited guests under the focus of diversity and climate justice:

Dr. Maria Isabel Andrade, head of the research unit Sweet Potato Breeding in Africa, CIP International Potato Center, Maputo/Mozambique (digital keynote); Stella Diettrich, education coordinator Slow Food Germany, Berlin; Frank Reinicke, CEO of INL – Private Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Halle (Saale)

Culinary realization: Christine Krauss, ChirpFood in cooperation with Clarissa Juse l Paradiesfutter

With friendly support of Kirow Kantine

Photos: SPUTNIKeins fotografie