COMING TO TERMS — EXPERIENTIAL DISH
A five course dish that builds on itself without changing its form to explore transformation, contamination, and to imagine alternate futures.
DEC 2021 / MAR 2023
When does a parasite or an infection cease to be an invader and simply become part of its host? If an organism’s interference in its environment is natural, then are cities also part of nature in some perverse way? What will happen to our cities if gentrifying forces continue to encroach on previously untouched neighborhoods? Can anything actually be untouched? How can we come to terms with the past and plan for the future when change is the only constant?
Using noodles and broth as a vehicle, this project encourages us to see our actions and decisions in a continuum and asks the question: What if we can’t go back to the way things were? What happens next? What do redemption and remediation look like? First presented as a personal line of inquiry about forgiveness and restorative justice, this dish has opened up conversations on multiple levels, from the individual and immediate to global- and community-level questions.
The structure of the dish remains consistent: a communal bowl of soba noodles that guests dip into small individual bowls of broth. Each course introduces a new addition to the broth.
00 — Clear, subtle broth base
01 — Tea from bitter greens and walnut skin
02 — Too much fish sauce
03 — Purée of caramelized onions, browned butter and walnut milk
04 — Assisted lemon oil hand cleanse
05 — Chilled artichoke intermezzo
This was first presented at NYU in Culinary Physics, taught by Stefani Bardin (Dec 2021)
Recreated for and photographed by Arkan Zakharov (Feb 2023)
Presented as an interactive model of parasitism and actor network theory at NYU in Symbioses, taught by Mustafa Saifuddin (Mar 2023)
00
The clear broth is the base of the dish, representing an imagined purity [of self, nature, a community, the world]. Its flavor is mild and fleeting like a memory.
01
Murky tea made of bitter greens and walnut skins mars the original broth. A turning point. The moment of contamination. It’s tannic and masks the original broth’s flavor.
02
Salt counteracts bitterness, so the next course adds fish sauce. Too much fish sauce. The bitterness and saltiness wrap around each other and the noodles and your tongue. Maybe we made it worse.
03
The onion, butter and walnut milk purée sits in a mass at the bottom of your bowl with flecks floating to the top. Drag your noodles through the sludge and hold your bowl close to your mouth. Despite its appearance, the purée’s sweetness and richness tie the previous bitterness and saltiness together.
What if remediation and redemption don’t look the way we expect or want them to look?
04
Squeeze the lemon peel over your neighbor’s hands. Accept the same from them. The scent from your hands adds a note of floral acidity to your next mouthful of the noodles.
What happens when you ask for help?
05
Swish the artichoke juice around your mouth, coating your tongue thoroughly, and taste the broth again. The artichokes’ cynarine acts as a filter for your taste buds, making everything taste a little sweeter and a little more unified.
How can a change of perspective change your experience?