MINDFUL MEAL

Mindful Meal is an eating experience where we examine and enjoy food through the lens of time. The five course dinner highlighted ingredients at various stages of life and evolved from fast to slow, young to old, light to complex.

Food is immediate in our culture. We simply go to the store and buy fresh produce. We have learned to be more conscious about seasonal, locally grown, and organic foods, but one thing we give little thought to is the life span of ingredients -- specifically, the time it takes for food to grow, develop, and mature. How long does it take to harvest a single carrot or to raise a pig?
We collaborated with various chefs to design a seasonal menu around this concept. Each course highlighted a different stage in life - Seed, Sprout, Bloom, Mature, and Decompose.
A display of fresh ingredients invited guests to learn more about what they were eating. Displayed from youngest to oldest, each item revealed the time it took to grow and source of origin (i.e. a chicken egg takes 25 hours to develop).
The meal began with a brief meditation that awakened our senses and introduced guests to mindful eating. The dinner was designed with interactive activities that engaged guests with their senses. Participants created their own curry blend for the SEED course by selecting a mixture of spices presented in test tubes. After toasting then grinding in a mortar and pestle, guests sprinkled the spices onto their own bowl of slow cooked egg in grain broth. Guests were also invited to experiment and customized their own cocktail, using unconventional ingredients like wheatgrass juice.

Taste Workshop, San Francisco 2015–2016
Photography by Sergey Kolivayko
Chefs: Leif Hedendal, Gavin Schmidt