Alimentary Design
Mealtime Companion
Final Review
ALIMENTARY DESIGN
Gallery Vask presents
BIGAS AT TABLEA (Your Final Review Dinner)
A companion publication to the food and thought presented at lunch and dinner on December 10, 2015, on the final review day of a graduate studio for architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design students taught by Shohei Shigematsu and Christy Cheng (OMA New York) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. This course, called Alimentary Design, uses food as a catalyst to rethink architecture and urban design typologies. The mealtime events, presented by The Office of Culture and Design (Philippines) and actLAB (New York), revolve around rice and cacao and the biocultural diversity of Philippine foodways in general.
Developed by Chef José Luís (Chele) González. Prepared by Chef Ivan Saíz. With the offsite dedication of Chef Janice Domingo.
Alimentary Design Final Review Mealtime Companion
December 2015. A set of food and thoughts for mealtimes. Presented at the Final Review of Alimentary Design, an architecture studio taught by OMA New York at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
ALIMENTARY DESIGN is an advanced research, architecture and urban design studio at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. ALIMENTARY DESIGN has explored various sites worldwide, including numerous locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa. Many projects have not been limited to a single site but expand upon the potential application of a design solution anywhere in the world.
Premise
Executive Supervision: Creative Direction: Editor and Curator: Assistant Editor: Graphic Design: Anthropological Cuisine: Text Contributors:
actLAB The Office of Culture and Design Hardworking Goodlooking
Shohei Shigematsu Christy Cheng, Aya Maceda Lobregat Balaguer (Clara) Bea Misa-Crisostomo Kristian Henson Gallery VASK. Chefs Chele Gonzรกlez, Ivรกn Saiz and Janice Domingo Bea Misa-Crisostomo, Chele Gonzรกlez, Gretchen Consunji-Lim, Kristian Henson
Alimentary is defined as that which relates to nourishment or nutrition, to the furnishing of maintenance for the support of human life, defined by food. Food transcends cultural and temporal boundaries and is an inescapable component of human life, uniquely diverse in the face of globalization. It is by far the largest industry in the world. However, architects and designers have previously only considered singular elements of this multi-processed and global industry. There has been no thorough and universal study of everything that is involved when we speak of food and beverage: farming + harvesting, postharvesting + handling, processing + warehouse, retailers + distributors, consumers, and waste. Every year since the Fall of 2013, this series of three studios conducted at the Harvard Graduate School of Design has investigated the multiple scales and processes involved with food and beverage. Research is an important component of these studios. It is developed in collaboration with a number of organizations and experts. Students work with specific clients, programs and sites to formulate detailed architectural and urban design projects.
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ALIMENTARY DESIGN, thus, develops a comprehensive analysis of the topic, using food as a catalyst to rethink architecture and urban design typologies. The studio holisitically considers how the largest industry in the world, in all of its forms, can impact the way we design buildings and cities; and how we can reasses the built environment through the fundamental of food.
APPETIZERS
BIGAS AT TABLEA (Your Final Review Dinner)
PANDESAL
Forthcoming The work from these three studios is being developed into a comprehensive publication, including interviews and essays by collaborators, student research and projects, and innovative proposals for the contemporary and future. Under the working title Food: Alimentary Design, it will be the first ever wide-ranging survey of the relationship between food and design that regards the food industry from a variety of scales, processes, and global sites. With its projected worldwide distribution, Food: Alimentary Design will become a resource not only for architects and designers but also for the growing number of food studies students, the booming population of foodies, and all consumers concerned about the current state of the food industry. Because ALIMENTARY DESIGN is the first research publication of its kind, it will form the new standard for how to examine the future of food and design through purposeful, targeted research and inventive yet implementable strategies.
KINILAW
This publication follows the success of previous OMA/Harvard publications such as Great Leap Forward and The Harvard Guide to Shopping.
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MAIN
BURO
RECIPES
Here are some recipes. They are traditional variations of the food served at the Alimentary Design final review supper. Plus the actual recipe for the main course. And a couple of extra added bonuses from Ritual’s archive of vernacular food traditions.
DESSERT
SUMAN AT TSOKOLATE
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Culture and tradition in the Philippines are still transmitted orally, for the most part. How to navigate public transportation in Metro Manila, how to make killer pandesal, how to construct a traditional christmas lantern or parol, or how to build an indigenous Maranaw torogan house… these are processes largely passed on through word of mouth, from one generation of users, chefs and builders to the next. This precolonial, tribal way of communicating knowledge is reflected in some of these recipes. Measurements are eyeballed, cooking times are intuitive, personal preference is allowed and encouraged. If you’ve ever tried to gather field information of any sort in the Philippines—not just at the level of the rural but also, often, on professional or institutional scales—you would eventually run into a very human predicament: imprecision. Oral transfer of data is prone to extemporization and subjective building upon. This makes synthesizing data into digitally translatable formats and structures more difficult. It also makes the transmission of information, like for example a recipe, with replicable efficiency
a more labor-intensive endeavor. There is some to be said, however, about retaining this personable trait, for championing a qualitative and story-like approach to data. Perhaps this is a ludditeesque decision to be making in the era of integer-centric information archivery. We sort of don’t mind that. We understand that this meal companion is going to end up mostly in the hands of a developed-world audience, so saying that this choice has been made to ensure that Eastern audiences find the oral tradition experience more relatable—or mildly entertaining— would sound great. But it would be a lie. Whether or not these recipes end up in the hands of Philippine bakers and carinderya (small, usually streetside restaurants) cooks from the province is, however, beside the point. The point is that we wanted make the process of following a recipe from a book more human. A bit like asking your lola (grandmother) for help. Some of the recipes are more straightforward, though, combining gravitas information and whimsical digression for language that strikes a balance.
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BEA’S COCONUT MILK TSOKOLATE Two handfuls of grated coconut meat Some water, enough to make two cups Four cacao tableas Coconut sugar
BEA’S VERY PERSONAL TSOKOLATE Method 1. Combine the coconut meat and water. Squeeze some of the milk out. 2. Strain the milk into your cacao-cooking receptacle. We use a Turkish coffee pot, but you can use a saucepan. On medium heat, simmer the milk then add the tableas . 3. Use a batidor or a wire whisk to mash the tableas and mix the whole thing when it gets hot. Whisk it madly. Like you are creating a vortex to get to another dimension. 4. Serve in small cups, put coconut sugar to taste.
2-3 tableas of native chocolate Coconut cream, water buffalo milk or cow’s milk Mascobado sugar or any other sweetener Water
Method 1. Start with very small amount of water over very low heat. Put 2 or 3 tableas in per person, before water boils. The water should just barely cover the lozenges. 2. Mix the chocolate with a wooden spoon, whisk or batidor until it becomes thick and smooth, homogenous in consistency. The idea is to emulsify and release the oils in the chocolate. 3. When it’s thickened, add the desired amount of sugar, water and/or milk. It’s very personal, you get to choose how you want your chocolate. Use coconut cream or buffalo milk for extra authenticity. Make it with just water if you don’t want the extra calories. Don’t add sugar if you like the rich bitterness of pure chocolate. That sort of thing. 4. Some, but not all, tableas may create a bit of sediment at the bottom when melted into a liquid, result of different milling/ grinding processes. Emulsifying rather than melting straight into the entire amount of milk or water will reduce the grittiness. Some people like a bit of texture, but if you don’t care for it, strain the chocolate before serving.
Pairings
Cacao flower beginning its first stages of growth. It takes 6 months from the time that they are pollinated until ready to harvest.. png
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1. Suman (sticky rice cakes) and yellow mango. 2. Pandesal and butter. 3. Pandesal and kesong puti (water buffalo cheese). If no kesong puti, you can use quesillo or any other crude, fresh farmer’s cheese. 4. Filipino ensaimada (with gratinated Edam on top), which may be replaced with brioche. 9
GRETCHEN’S EFFORTFUL PANDESAL Yield: 15 rolls
Method
4 c unbleached all-purpose flour 1 ½ tsp of instant yeast 2 ½ tsp sea salt 2 tbsp mascobado sugar 3 tbsp fresh lard, butter or vegetable oil 2 tbsp mascobado sugar 1 ½ c lukewarm water 2 c fine bread crumbs for coating the pandesal All purpose flour, as needed for the counter Vegetable oil, as needed
In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine all the ingredients and mix on low until a shaggy mass forms, about 4 minutes. Switch to the hook attachment and knead the dough on medium-low until it is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Gather the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a moistened kitchen towel and let the dough rise until double in size, 1½ to 2½ hours, depending on room temperature. Transfer the risen dough to a lightly floured counter and pat into an 8 x 12-inch rectangle. Roll the dough into a log, jellyroll style, pressing the seams lightly against the counter to seal. Divide the dough into 15 pieces using a dough cutter. Roll the dough pieces in the breadcrumbs and place on a baking tray, cut side up. Let the rolls rest until puffy, about one hour. Bake the pandesal in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes, until golden brown.
Non-Judgemental Pairings
Intercropping of cacao trees under coconut trees. The cacao benefits from the partial shading and diffused sunlight provided. The coconuts also get better yields as the mulching leaves from the cacao trees create good bio mass and healthier, more fertile soil.
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1. Adobo, leftovers best. 2. Kesong puti and mango jam. 3. Peanut butter. 4. Tsokolate and butter. 5. Spam. 6. Vienna sausage. 7. Coffee. 8. Scrambled egg. 9. Any kind of cheese, then toast. 10. Forever alone. 11. Anything you feel like
Transfer the baked pandesal to rest in a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.
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CHELE’S OWN BURO Ingredients
Method
Fermented Rice 200g tinawon rice, cooked 20g rock salt 300ml water 5g white onion, brunoise 3g ginger, brunoise 3g garlic, brunoise 5g tomato, boiled, peeled and brunoise 30ml tomato juice, from blended and strained tomatoes 5g buro Fermented Maya-Maya and Crispy Skin 1kg maya-maya 50g rock salt Mustard Leaves and Pickled Mustard Leaves 100g mustard leaves Pan-Seared Maya-Maya 30g maya-maya fillet Pickled Red Onion 1 red onion (150 g per piece) Salt Pickling Solution 2 parts cane vinegar 1 part water
Fermented Rice: Cool cooked rice on a tray and season with plenty of salt. Transfer to a container and cover with thin paper to avoid contamination. Leave outside to ferment for 3 days. Once done, put in the chiller and set aside. For one portion of buro, sauté first the fish buro and then the onions, ginger, garlic, and tomato. Add tomato juice to make it creamy. Season with salt, if needed. Fermented Maya-Maya and Crispy Skin: Fillet maya-maya and set the skin aside. Deep-fry the skin and set aside in the dehydrator for garnish. Put the fillets in a perforated pan and season with plenty of salt. Transfer to a container and cover with thin paper. Leave outside for three days to ferment. Once done, brunoise and set aside. Mustard Leaves and Pickled Mustard Leaves: Wash and dry half of the leaves and set aside. Add salt to the other half and keep in the chiller. The following day, soak in water for an hour. Set aside in separate containers. Pan-Seared Maya-Maya: Season fillet with salt. Sear in pan until skin is golden and finish in the oven at 140ºC for one minute or until the fish is cooked at 45ºC. Pickled Red Onion: Soak the onion in 10% salt-water solution overnight. Once done, drain and cover with salt for 8 hours. Wash the onion, then vacuum-pack in pickling solution. Plating Put fermented rice on one side of the plate. Arrange 4 pieces of pickled red onion around the rice, and top with the seared fish. Add both fresh and fermented mustard leaves on one side of the fish. Finish with crispy skin on the other side.
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KRISTIAN’S POSTCOLONIAL KINILAW 2 lbs any firm fish, like grouper, filleted and cubed into 1-inch pieces 1 lb sashimi cut or steak, cubed into 1-inch pieces 1 large red onion, chopped finely 1 medium head of garlic, chopped finely 1 jalapeño or 6 sili (bird’s eye chili), chopped finely 1 thumb-sized nub of ginger, chopped finely 1 small handful of kintsay, wansoy or cilantro, chopped finely 25-30 fresh calamansi or 10-12 limes, juiced Coconut vinegar, as needed Condensed milk, as needed Coconut milk, as needed Salt Pepper
BEA’S SMUSHY BLACK SESAME PALITAW Instructions 1. Mix vinegar and calamansi juice with all other non-fish ingredients. Taste this mixture, called leche de tigre in some South American ceviche recipes, and adjust to your liking. 2. Pour mixture over the fish and let it sit for an hour. Approximately. Check on it at about 45 minutes. To be sure. It depends. 3. Drizzle a bit of coconut milk and a bit of condensed milk, at 2:1 ratio. Taste and adjust to how sweet or sour you want it. Some people go all out on the condensed milk and want it sweet. You may want to go slowly, though. Taste taste lang. Serving Suggestions 1. Over lettuce 2. On a Mexican tostada 3. In a small bowl on its own. 2. Serve with one skinned wedge of boiled purple yam and a section of boiled non-GMO corn. If you can find Peruvian varieties of corn with very large kernels, these work best. 3. Eat chilled. Please.
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200 g glutinous rice flour Enough water to form the flour into dough A pot of water Coconut sugar Raw black sesame seeds Grated meat of half a coconut
Method 1. Combine the glutinous rice flour and water and form into a dough. We find that the amount of water varies according to what flour you use. The dough should be firm and pliable, not sticky. 2. Shape into balls, then smush with your palms. The size can vary according to your preference. Smaller ones are good for parties because people can just pop them in their mouth. Put these into a pot of boiling water, around two at a time so they don’t stick to each other while floating around. When they are done, they will float to the top. Hence, the name palitaw. 3. Have a bowl with the grated coconut meat ready. After draining each palitaw, throw it lovingly in the coconut meat, imagine how nice that must feel. The meat will stick to the palitaw. Coat it well. Coconut meat makes you feel a little bit better about the fact that you’re eating a glob of flour. 4. Sprinkle your serving plate with coconut sugar. Lay the palitaw on top of the sugar. Then sprinkle them with black sesame seeds. Serve at room temperature. Don’t keep it too long. It goes bad after a day.
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BEA’S NORMAL SUMAN
Method
1 c glutinous rice 2 c water 2 c gata (coconut cream) 1 tbsp grated ginger or 1 tsp turmeric
1. Soak sticky rice for a few hours, until the grains of rice are soft enough to split in half with your nail. Approximately two hours for white glutinous rice, but this will differ from grain to grain. To get the amount of water, use the Filipino “knuckle method”: add desired amount of rice to pot, then add water until it covers the rice. When you put your index finger in the water, with the tip just touching the top of the rice, the liquid should reach, more of less, the first knuckle crease of your finger. Depends also how long your finger is. This works for Filipino fingers, which may be shorter than American fingers. But more or less, it holds true. This is loosely a rice to water ratio of 1:1.2. 2. Put the rice and water in a casserole or pot. Bring this to a boil and then reduce to lowest possible flame. It should bubble just slightly over the low flame. Simmer until water evaporates. About 20-30 minutes, but just check often to make sure. 3. Add coconut milk and ginger. Repeat same process of “boil and soft simmer” until water evaporates. 4. Remove from flame, let cool, then stir briefly. 5. Cut banana leaves into roughly half a sheet Letter size or A4 office paper, or A5 size. You don’t have to be super precise. Just cut pieces big enough to make an 8-inch long roll of suman,, about 1 inch in diameter. 6. Spoon about 4 tbsp of cooked rice into the banana leaf and make a cylindrical packet. 7. Steam the banana leaf and rice packets for 30 minutes in a bamboo steamer or however you normally steam things. Suman spoils quickly in hot weather. You may freeze any extra suman, just steam it when you’re ready to eat. Do not defrost frozen suman before steaming, just stick it straight into the pot.
Pairings 1. Grated fresh coconut meat and mascobado sugar or any other raw brown sugar. 2. Hot chocolate and yellow mango. Preferably the Philippine mango, which is infinitely tastier than the hard apple-type mango you find in Western supermarkets. This is not misplaced nationalism. It’s sort of a fact. 3. Coconut jam. 4. Salabat (fresh ginger tea), sweetened with honey or mascobado sugar. 5. Coffee.
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23.7.11 (Travel) Banana Leaf Sachets Sachets are a cool concept, except for the biodegradability component. They’re democratic, but not as democratic as something you can make yourself. While we have been known to carry around jars of the sweeteners that suit our moods, on short trips, sachets are in order. Find a banana tree in your village or neighborhood. They are a good thing to keep on hand for emergencies, and also to use when ironing your clothes. This leaf is from our garden. Remember, you need to “prime” the leaves by wiping clean and then heating over fire, creating a flexible sheet that won’t tear. Fold into a triangle. Make sure that you fold it in such a way that there is no small hole in the bottom. Fill with your condiment of choice. Fold the top over and staple. I’m sure there are more elegant ways, but none as fast as stapling. Click here to see the finished products before we took them to Davao. Remember that banana leaves seal moisture in, so the sugar will get moist, but will dissolve just as well if your coffee is hot. For drier products like fine salt or peppers, paper will do.
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TROPICAL FERMENTS
Bea Misa-Crisostomo
One of early man’s greatest achievements, almost on par with discovering fire, is finding that he quite likes the byproducts microbes create when they recycle things back into nature. Fruit, honey, and grains had been, for millions of years, converted spontaneously into alcohols and acids, just as animal and plant proteins had been fermented into amino acids and peptides. The resulting stuff, when edible, usually had increased levels of things like protein, vitamins, and essential amino acids, giving man every inclination to develop a liking for it. The hallmark flavors of fermentation—savoriness, boozyness, and sourness—thus began infiltrating our daily lives, culture, and later on commerce. Because our muggy equatorial existence lends itself to bacterial cacophony, fermentation on our tropical islands remains relatively basic (and mostly spontaneous), giving the Filipino regular access to vinegar, fish slurry, shrimp paste, palm wine, and many other such stinky pleasures. SAVORINESS In our urban world of bouillons and bacon-on-demand, it might be difficult to understand the important role that savory, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat food and condiments came to play in pre-industrial or non-refrigerated societies. They served as backbones for many beloved recipes, easily enriching broths or guisados with their solubility. Just as importantly, they became, without additional preparation, integral parts of simple meals around the country— flavorful side dishes that often stood as the main protein of the Filipino rural meal. This was especially invaluable to a people who consider a meal a meal so long as it has rice and something savory. Cacao fermentation raises the temperature of the beans up to just under 50 degrees. Fermentation variations significantly affect flavor development. Very clean pulp from no overripe pods. Pulp to seed ratio looks high. I’d like to talk more about what you’re working on there.
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Soy sauce, miso, fish pastes, and fish sauce, are examples of salt-heavy Asian fermented protein products. In archipelagic Philippines, tiny fish or shrimp—the proteins of choice—are left to ferment anaerobically with salt (which stops them from rotting). The enzymes in their guts, together with salt-tolerant
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lactic acid bacteria, facilitate the creation of a very savory, meatflavored mash. The diversity of names, textures, and colors of fermented small sea creatures is just what one would expect from an archipelago of thousands of islands. The “liquor,” or liquid that rises above the fishy matter, is sometimes harvested to make amber-colored fish (or shrimp) sauce. Bagoong alamang, no doubt one of the most popular savory ferments of the Philippines, is an odorous umami-bomb made of salted little krill (Acetes sp.) left to ferment for a few weeks to a few months. While mineral content varies from area to area, the resultant pastes have been touted as unlikely omega-3-rich superfoods, with “potent antioxidative substances, large amounts of PUFA and free amino acid.” On the other hand, analysis of bugguoong a monamon, a northerly ferment made from anchovies, clues us in on the transformative magic of fermentation and why those Ilocanos live so damn long: “[o]ne tablespoon of bagoong after straining or extracting with water furnishes about the same quantity of calcium, about half as much phosphorus, and thirteen times as much iron as three tablespoons of milk.” Alas, while the Filipino has maintained his instinctive love for the savory, he has largely (and especially in urbanizing areas) replaced such grassroots ferments with widely advertised and available, MSG-laden broth cubes and packets of instant mix. Commercial distributors of low-quality, quasi-fermented food, heavy with artificial colors and flavoring, are creating collectively low standards of what bagoong and patis (fish sauce) should taste like. As with other parts of Asia, these industrially “enhanced” seasonings have been created to replace our traditional pastes and sauces, fitting right in to our cooking habits but barely enriching them. Though the safety of MSG to human beings is up in the air, one thing is for sure: we are missing out on easy, tasty nutrition and losing the nuances behind regional dishes. SOURNESS Vinegar-making is a simple pursuit in the tropics. Freshly harvested saccharine liquid, already teeming with microoganisms, starts fermenting with minimal prodding and no starter culture. Left to its own devices, it turns quickly into alcohol. It sours just as easily. The concentrated sugars in palm sap or cane juice are the most
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common substrates for microbial transformation into acetic acid, but other minor sour ferments are made from adding sugar to more timid fruit juice or peel. At the point of consumption, most of these tend to be very tart and mature, save for a few Southern variations that are perceived by Tagalogs as “unripe” yet still mildly alcoholic. A Paoay local once revealed that the secret to his fighting cocks’ vitality was a daily dose of sukang iloco (Ilocano sugarcane vinegar) in their drinking water. That did not surprise me. Vinegar is more pervasive in the Ilocos region than anywhere else in the Philippines, where it is already a ubiquitous dipping sauce and seasoning. Mothers bathe their feverish children with it. Old folks take a tablespoon of it in the morning as a tonic. In food, it is used to pickle a myriad of astringent or already-sour fruit, as well as to cut the fat of heavier dishes like deep-fried empanadas, deep-fried pork, blood stews, and sausages. Used in the Ilocano vegetable dish pinakbet, it can balance out the typical salty, fishy, and bitter flavors. Filipinos tend to like the subtle acidity of tart fruit or leaves. But they are likewise known to douse meals with one of the many kinds of local vinegar. There are no qualms about having “extremely sour” as the dominant flavor of a dish, with only meatiness (no spices) to add flavor complexity. Furthermore, since vinegar is both preservative and bactericidal, its role in soups and stews goes beyond taste. When Filipinos need a dish with staying power (i.e., able to survive all-day parties or three-hour jeepney rides to pick relatives up from the airport), they cook up pots of adobo (meat stewed in vinegar) or paksiw (fish and garlic poached in vinegar) and reheat these throughout the day. The flavors meld together and by the end of the day you have a fairly complex dish with a sour, meaty, thick sauce that can be spooned over rice and eaten alone. At the very least, most homes and establishments keep a bottle of vinegar around to use as a dipping sauce. The ubiquitous white variety we see in local eateries is, unfortunately, usually predominated by industrial acetic acid or highly pasteurized versions of traditional products, a vague shadow of what vinegar really should be. Large companies offer cheap plastic sachets of processed vinegar in small town stores. Their impossible price points and aggressive distribution tactics can dislodge traditional, sustainable industries in the span of a few years. As a result, not a few people have put their clay fermenting jars away. They are unable to compete.
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BOOZYNESS In small towns of the Visayas, you will find people gathered at small stalls drinking tuba, a boozy, sometimes effervescent drink made of fermented coconut, nipa grass, or sugar palm sap. They will comment, as they offer you some salt to go with your shotglass, that this daily habit contributes to their general wellness. And you will believe them, as palm wines are rich in B vitamins and ascorbic and amino acids, which are particularly important for almostvegetarian societies. You are not likely to be an instant fan of the beverage. Tuba predominantly tastes like fresh yeast, with other notes that can run the gamut from caramel, sesame oil and green mango to jasmine, soy sauce, and coconut milk. As with similar grassroots fermented beverages, there is high diversity due to variability in processing techniques, ingredients, and resultant microorganisms. Some producers use a starter mash. Some allow for completely spontaneous fermentation. Still others employ botanicals to enhance clarity, color, and palatability. Science has recently found that plant additives can inhibit certain microorganisms and allow the predominance of others (e.g., tuba made without tangal mangrove bark—a common additive—has four times as many yeast species than tangal-infused tuba), making for a slightly more consistent product. When our colonizers arrived, alcoholic beverages had already permeated Filipino dietary, social, and spiritual realms. Such was the case with Ilocanos, who are as passionate about their basi as they are with their vinegar. Basi is a widely consumed, astringent sugarcane wine used in rituals and community gatherings around marriage, death, and spiritual cleansing. In 1786, the Spanish colonial government began regulating the production and sale of basi, underpaying producers while selling the wine at exorbitant prices through government stores. Official buyers purchased only high-proof basi leaving the weaker, low-grade wine for local consumption. This had the unfortunate dual effect of impoverishing locals and creating widespread disappointment at having crappy wine at social gatherings, leading eventually to the Basi Revolt of 1807. Such yeasty, traditional, small-scale alcoholic beverages are rarely pasteurized and do not travel well (sometimes turning into vinegar or exploding in transit). As a result, their main consumers, though fiercely loyal, tend to be geographically limited. Over time,
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23.10.15 (Supplier Visit) Batangas Salt Last April, upon the suggestion (and general directions) of a good friend, we found ourselves in the salt farm of a new supplier in Batangas. These and other producers are an integral part of the dried and fermented fish industries of the region. There is a tendency to romanticize saltmaking--we envision the leisurely raking the beds in by workers in rustic straw hats, while a refreshing breeze furthers evaporation, leaving soft, billowy crystals. But it is truly backbreaking work under the brutal heat of the sun. And with industrial or consolidated salt taking over the palengkes (it is becoming more common to find Mindoro salt in Cebu), saltmaking is becoming a less profitable venture in many places. Salt farms are dwindling, except perhaps in Pangasinan and Mindoro. The Batangas salt is very earthy, a saltnext-door. I have childhood memories of picking salt out of my eyebrows after swimming in Nasugbu. The high salinity of Batangas water results in a VERY salty salt. Our Batangas salt is perhaps the saltiest one we’ve ever carried. It still has mineral notes, but is very boldly salty, like-aHagibis-song-is-masculine salty. Perhaps the perfect salt for a preservation project, or for cooking.
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their flavor has become a foreign and to-be-acquired taste for outsiders—sometimes folk from just a few kilometers away whose palates favor the less wild and always available commercial beer or clear spirits. Even children, who used to be routinely exposed to this yeasty flavor through their tuba-raised rice cakes and bread, now snack on neutral-tasting bread leavened with commercial yeast and baking powder. We now cringe when our puto (rice cake) has that boozy, sometimes bitter taste, which could be described as “funk.” WORKING ON THE FUTURE OF OUR FERMENTS
9.4.11 (New) The Beauty of Everyday Objects In a pre-plastic and pre-carbon economy, tropical people were in a constant rhythm of replacement. Things like old bamboo cups and natural roofing became nourishment for soil after their useful life. The nipa hut sheds, through its inhabitants, and grows a new head of hair. The kawayanan or sasahan was a sort of commons-- people looked after the bamboo and nipa groves because their regeneration was essential to everyday life. It creates a relationship of management, beyond just extraction. These days, in the thick of the slick, we forget that many objects were designed by everyday people as simple responses to practical problems. We’ve seen people flatten out cans and pound holes in them to make graters. We’ve seen people carve knife handles to replace broken ones. The solutions are limited by the available materials, and the mind. At the shop, we try to strike a balance between durable goods, and those that are not exactly meant to last forever, but come from quickly renewable resources and employ human energy to create. Unlike extracting plastic, maintaining our natural store of materials builds the soil, creates oxygen, water catchment, and habitat for ourselves and animals. When a natural item’s useful life is over, just compost it. If you can’t make a replacement yourself, buying a handmade one supports a craftsman and keeps the skill alive. In these pictures: handmade melon and coconut grater with a bamboo handle (the aluminum is inserted into incisions in the bamboo). Hand-turned santol wood reflexology sticks.
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For decades, cultural workers have been moaning the loss of artisanal methods of production, many of them including seemingly primitive technologies of fermentation. In the same way, our grandmothers, grandfathers, and countless migrants who grew up with a nuanced cuisine have grown tired of recounting slivers of their food memories: their mothers’ method of choosing the best fish sauce, the convoluting procedures (including hallmark textures and odors) for leavening obscure rice snacks, what makes a certain tuba so special that it belongs in the clay jars to be brought out only during fiesta. Are we finally listening? Forgotten, vernacular, hyperlocal ingredients and techniques are trendy in the food world right now. Everyone is looking for something unique to present to the connected world. The culinary focus on innovation necessitates finding tangents that are unexplored. Diners are drawn to ingredients and dishes with origins and stories. Context is the new currency, and that seems like a bright spot for preserving the biocultural diversity eroded by commodified food. But the practical obstacles of working with “undiscovered” grassroots ingredients in the Philippines are many. Transportation is a challenge for remote areas, the whole hourlong-walk-twotricycle-rides-one-jeepney-ride-to-the-bus-cargo-counter being a real obstacle. Airplane cargo counters refuse to admit vinegar and local wine on the grounds that they are volatile and corrosive. Packaging is usually improvised and sometimes turns out to be unsuitable, resulting in an expensive disaster that has been contaminated, has leaked half its contents out, or is generally not fit for use.
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There is also that problem of consistency. For spontaneous ferments, there are variables that are always changing: humidity, heat, sugar levels in substrate, volatile oil levels in botanicals. Locally, the end product is consumed regardless of variations in taste, but it can be a problem for kitchens and store floors. Both producer and consumer are in need of a greater understanding of product and process. These challenges, and many others that come along with working in the informal, grassroots economy, are not insurmountable. Chefs, purveyors, and enthusiasts only need to be aware of the realities that they face. There are many who receive one kilo of an exotic ingredient, scrawl it on their chalkboards, serve or sell it, receive rave reviews. But when the time comes to reorder, and things go awry, they throw their hands up dismissively, making sharp comments and heading back to deli aisles to buy imported, safe, consistent goods. You might be one of those who chooses to persist. An approach that is useful is to start small, one producer at a time, keeping challenges or tasks manageable, and cycles of learning short. Be democratic, as you often have more preconceived notions than you realize. Stay for more than a few hours, learn about the practical concerns and unexpressed norms of fermentation, go to the library, interview people. Come with containers. Learn about how the community uses the product, what their categories for quality are, and fuse these with your own—you cannot have the same standards for a barrel-aged balsamic vinegar and a young clay jar-fermented nipa vinegar. If you are using the ingredient for a limited time (i.e., a special menu), even before you begin, find someone who can take it on after your run—a food processor, chef, purveyor, who will continue your work. Find out what species and dishes exist alongside the ferment of your choice, and remember to cultivate these as well. Work with humility, realizing that you are not “saving” anyone but enriching your life and livelihood by learning and accessing traditions. You will get to know those civilizations of wild microbes that work tirelessly and happily to cultivate a taste that your ancestors grew to love.
YELLOW PAGES actLAB 195 Plymouth St, Suite 02-07 Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA T: +1 917 7753375 info@actlabnyc.com www.actlabnyc.com
research and theory, printed in very, very small cottage-industry presses in the Philippines. But they also work with small and large studio clients in order to generate original content and/or fund the social practice projects of The OCD. HWGL works in between Brooklyn and Parañaque City.
actLAB is a collaborative studio working at the intersection of architectural design, research and social advocacy. actLAB is driven by the social effect that architecture can activate and draw from urban complexities to inform their production of architecture. actLAB’s spectrum of work range from highly detailed bespoke projects to community social spaces in New York and remote locations in the Philippines.
Provided for this project: Graphic Design.
Provided for this project: Curation. Production.
Gallery VASK 5/F Clipp Center 11th Ave. corner 39th St. Bonifacio Global City Taguig City, Metro Manila 1634 Philippines T: +63 917 5461673 experience@galleryvask.com www.galleryvask.com Operating hours: Monday to Saturday 11AM-11PM Each dish at Gallery VASK has a story to tell. Their inspirations lie close to the use of indigenous ingredients and techniques from local artisans that populate the “last mile” of agriculture. They consider field research and relationships of exchange built with suppliers highly valuable to the formation of the menu, which is in constant development. The Gallery VASK team is composed mostly of local Filipino chefs who collaborate and create with executive chef Chele González. The restaurant space also houses a contemporary art gallery curated by architect and artist Juan Carlo Calma. Provided for this project: Anthropological Cuisine.
Hardworking Goodlooking 925 Bergen St., Suite 202 Brooklyn, NY 11238 USA T US: +1 917 9009948 T PH: +1 917 8233028 hwgl.info@gmail.com Hardworking Goodlooking is a publishing and graphic design hauz interested in decolonization of aesthetic voice, vernacular artisanry and giving value to the invisible. Primarily, they publish cultural
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Harvard Graduate School of Design 48 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 USA T: +1 617 495-1000 www.gsd.harvard.edu The Harvard University Graduate School of Design prides itself on the wide scope of its global engagement through projects and collaborations that strive to enhance the built environment. Every semester our students immerse themselves in coursework and advanced research activities that explore the interrelationship between themes and geographies. As a School, we are deeply interested in addressing settings around the world that can benefit from the design imagination of our students and faculty across a range of fields and practices. This approach is not so much new as it is intentional, forming a deliberate cornerstone of our mission and pedagogy. We wish for our projects to be transformative in multiple locations and in richly varied societies, economies, cultures, and political circumstances. Mohsen Mostafavi Dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design The Harvard University Graduate School of Design is dedicated to the education of individuals pursuing professional careers in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, and related fields. With a commitment to design excellence that demands the skillful manipulation of form and technology, drawing inspiration from a broad range of environmental, social, and cultural issues, the GSD provides leadership for shaping the built environment of the 21st century. At the core of design and planning education at the GSD is the studio method of teaching. Students engage with their critics, addressing a wide-range of issues, topics and contexts, while developing their creative potential and sharpening their analytical and critical skills through studio work. As part of the GSD’s studio program, students enhance their studies with travel to such places as Kyoto, Japan; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Chicago, USA; and Santiago and Patagonia, Chile. Provided for this project: Platform. Funding. Executive Direction. Production.
The Office of Culture and Design (The OCD) 52 Shoreline St. Parañaque City Metro Manila 1700 Philippines T: +63 917 8233028 office@officeocd.com www.officeocd.com The OCD is a research and project production platform for social practice in art and design. Since 2010, it has funded and organized residencies for artists who wish to immerse in underserved communities to create projects that pragmatically address social issues. In 2013, The OCD founded its own graphic design studio and imprint, Hardworking Goodlooking, which serves to present the results of their experiments (and those of others) in print and other formats. Both OCD and HWGL are interested in the decolonization of Philippine cultural thought and practice, most especially through the lens of the contemporary vernacular. Provided for this project: CURATION. PRODUCTION. EDITORIAL DIRECTION.
OMA 180 Varick Street, Suite 1328 New York, NY 10014 USA T: +1 212 337 0770 F: +1 212 337 0771 ny-office@oma.com www.oma.com OMA is a leading international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA’s buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. OMA is led by ten partners—Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten, Chris van Duijn, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Jason Long and Michael Kokora—and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction include the Fondazione Prada in Milan, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, the Qatar Foundation headquarters, the Qatar National Library, the Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec and a new building for the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow. OMA’s recently completed projects include the G-Star Headquarters in Amsterdam (2014) Shenzhen Stock Exchange (2013); De Rotterdam, the largest building in the Netherlands (2013); the headquarters for China Central Television (2012); New Court, the headquarters for Rothschild bank in London (2011); Milstein Hall at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (2011); and
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Maggie’s Centre, a cancer care centre in Glasgow (2011). Earlier buildings include the Casa da Musica in Porto (2005), the Seattle Central Library (2004) and the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003). The counterpart to OMA’s architectural practice is AMO. While OMA remains dedicated to the realization of buildings and masterplans, AMO operates in areas beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture, including media, politics, sociology, renewable energy, technology, fashion, curating, publishing and graphic design. AMO often works in parallel with OMA’s clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO’s research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA’s architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication and designed a colored “barcode” flag—combining the flags of all member states—that was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast and Harvard University, produced exhibitions at the Venice Biennale (on the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg) and Venice Architecture Biennale (on preservation, and on the development of the Gulf), and guest-edited issues of the magazines Wired and Domus. Recent projects include a plan for a Europewide renewable energy grid, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Project Japan, Taschen, 2010) and the educational program of Strelka, a new postgraduate school in Moscow. Provided for this project: Concept. Executive Direction. Production.
Ritual 2/F Languages International Bldg. 926 Arnaiz Ave. Makati City, Metro Manila 1223 Philippines T: +63 (0) 2 734 5486 hola@ritual.ph www.ritual.ph Operating Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 12-9PM Ritual is a sustainable general store at the Languages Internationale Building along Arnaiz Ave. No plastic bags and bottles. Organic food, green cleaning, and interesting tools for living. Provided for this project: Tablea Cacao. Tapuy.
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THE TEAM Aya Maceda Aya Maceda is a Filipino-Australian architect and professor at Parsons School of Design–School of Constructed Environments. Aya is a graduate (MS.AAD) and former faculty at Columbia University GSAPP. She brings with her extensive professional experience from prestigious practices in Australia and South East Asia — specializing in the conceptualization to realization of complex residential projects and institutional projects that enhance the public domain [from highly-detailed single dwellings to dense residential projects, public libraries and a university building], some of which have received the highest architectural awards in Australia. Role in this project: Co-presenter. Executive Producer. Bea Misa Crisostomo Bea owns a sustainable general store called Ritual. Her and her shop’s interests include plastic free living and biocultural diversity. She is also a consultant on community agricultural development. Role in this project: Speaker. Writer. Food supplier. Christy Cheng Christy Cheng is a New York-based architect, writer, curator, and editor who received her master of architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and her bachelor of arts in English and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania. Her background has led her interests in the interdisciplinary potentials of architecture, design, art, research, and writing. Christy has worked as an architect at a number of offices worldwide, including including OMA, Toshiko Mori Architect, and Ai Weiwei’s architectural design firm. Christy has taught graduate level architectural studios for the past several years at Columbia GSAPP, Cornell AAP, and the CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture. She currently works independently on a variety of scales and types of projects and was most recently the head of the curatorial team for the inaugural Dominican Republic exhibition at the 2014 Venice Biennale. Role in this project: Executive Director. Professor. Clara Lobregat Balaguer Clara Lobregat Balaguer is an independent researcher and artist who has learned to do graphic design. In 2010, she founded The Office of Culture and Design, an organisation through which she executes social practice projects in culturally underserved communities in the Philippines. She has released one book as author and nine as publisher at the helm of the publishing and graphic design hauz, Hardworking Goodlooking, whose publications have been regularly exhibited
at the New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1. She has exhibited artwork at Singapore Art Museum, Casa Asia Madrid, Galeria H2O, Ayala Museum, New York University (NYU), Hangar and La Capella. She has lectured at Harvard GSD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Bennington College, Triple Canopy, MoMA PS1, Museum of Art and Design (MAD), Ateneo de Manila and University of the Philippines, Diliman. She was the youngest directorial board member for the international design NGO, Design for the World, from 2007 to 2009. She currently sits on the board and is executive director of ClassAct Foundation, dedicated to building schools and providing educational programming for post-disaster communities in Bohol Island, Philippines. Role in this project: Co-presenter. Speaker. Editor. Kristian Henson Kristian Henson is a New York–based designer and publisher. After receiving his MFA from Yale School of Art in 2012, he continued his research and extended his design practice by actively collaborating with artists and institutions in The Philippines. He is art director for The Manila Review, a Filipino literary criticism and arts journal, and is the head of design for The Office of Culture and Design, and co-founded the Manila-based graphic design and publishing hauz, Hardworking Goodlooking. He is also an excellent home cook and has assisted in the elaboration of this evening’s dishes. His publishing work has been exhibited at The New Museum, NY Art Book Fair, Printed Matter, Ooga Booga, PrintRoom Rotterdam, Yale University Art Gallery, Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive Melborne, OBSCURA Festival Malaysia, Ateneo University Press, and The Singapore Art Museum. Role in this project: Art Director. Line Cook. Shohei Shigematsu Shohei Shigematsu is a Partner at OMA and Director of the New York office. Since joining the office in 1998, he has been a driving force behind many of OMA’s projects in the Americas and Asia. Shohei provides design leadership and direction across the company for projects from their conceptual onset to completed construction. Shohei is in charge of a number of cultural projects including the Quebec National Beaux Arts Museum and the Faena Arts Center in Miami Beach—both scheduled for completion in 2015—as well as direct collaborations with artists, including a studio expansion for Cai Guo Qiang in New York, the Marina Abramovic Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art in upstate New York, and a pavilion in Cannes housing a seven screen system designed for Kanye West. Sho led the design of the world-traveling Prada exhibition, “Waist Down,” as well as the Dominican Republic pavilion for the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Under his direction, the New York office has also
been commissioned to design a number of residential towers in San Francisco, New York and Coconut Grove, as well as a mixeduse complex in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. Shohei is also leading a number of large scale masterplans including a new civic center in Bogota, Colombia. Most recently, he led a multidisciplinary team for Rebuild by Design, a post-Hurricane Sandy initiative by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has produced a comprehensive urban water strategy for Hoboken, New Jersey. He is a design critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he is conducting a research studio entitled Alimentary Design, investigating the intersection of food, architecture and urbanism. Role in this project: Executive Supervisor. Professor.
THE KITCHEN José Luís (Chele) González Originally from Torrelavega, Spain. After receiving a culinary degree from Arxanda, Bilbao he went on to work in some of the world’s most respected restaurants, including Andra Mari, Arzak, El Bulli, El Celler de Can Roca, Nerua-Guggenheim, and Mugaritz where he developed his culinary philosophy. He is now based in the Philippines and has opened his restaurant Gallery VASK together with architect and artist Juan Carlo Calma. Chef Chele is most inspired by the personal bonds he establishes with the growers, producers, breeders, makers, and communities he has met through his field work. His travels in and around the Philippines have helped develop an awareness of common ingredients and a drive for using innovative techniques with a modern perspective. These distinct characteristics find their way into the dishes that are served in Gallery VASK. Role in this project: Executive Chef. Iván Saiz Born in Santander, Spain, Iván Saíz studied to become a chef at the Instituto Peñacastillo de Santander. His career has led him to work in the kitchens of Martin Berasategui in Donostia (3 Michelin Stars), Hotel El Bulli Hacienda Benazuza in Sevilla (2 Michelin Stars), Hotel Platja d’Or in Majorca, Spain (1 Michelin Star), the Robert Burns Hotel in Melbourne and now at Gallery Vask in Metro Manila. Role in this project: Executive Sous Chef. Janice Domingo Janice Domingo is a farmer by heart. She enjoys foraging. She is currently Chef de Partie at Gallery VASK in the Philippines. Role in this project: Off-site Chef de Partie. John Doe Role in this project: On-site Chef de Partie.
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MEALTIME PROGRAM
SCHEDULE OF FOOD AND THOUGHT
The final review programming for lunch and dinner was entrusted to The Office of Culture and Design (The OCD), a social practice research platform in the Philippines, and actLAB, an architectural design and research studio in New York with an active client base in the Philippines. Both organizations are working together to rebuild schools and provide educational programming for earthquakestricken communities on the island of Bohol.
12 PM
MERYENDA (Snack) Open to the public
PANDESAL AT TSOKOLATE Sweet roll and hot chocolate
12-1 PM
TALK Open to the public
THE BLEEDING EDGE AND THE LAST MILE
The mealtime program is based on two raw ingredients that featured in some of the research projects of Alimentary Design 2015: rice and cacao. Gallery Vask, a fine dining restaurant from Metro Manila run by chef Chele González, were enlisted to prepare a meal. Chele has been engaged in culinary research on the botany and applied uses of native rice varieties, specifically glutinous rice. These investigations, in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), are line with Gallery Vask’s philosophy of serving anthropological cuisine, rooted in the history of Philippine ingredients. Bea Misa-Crisostomo, an agricultural entrepreneur interested in biocultural diversity, was invited to give a talk and provide written insight on Philippine foodways in general and cacao in particular. Aside from running Metro Manila’s first organic general store, Ritual, Bea and her husband also own Casco Cacao, a community-oriented cacao fermentary and brokerage that actively develops farmerfriendly ways to improve harvest yield and fermentation technology.
A talk by Philippine social practitioners, Bea Misa-Crisostomo and Clara Lobregat Balaguer, on hybrid approaches to food and research. 6-8 PM
HAPUNAN (Dinner) By invitation only
BIGAS AT TABLEA Grains of rice and raw cacao lozenges A five-course dinner that presents retooled versions of traditional rice and native cacao dishes from the Philippines. Menu conceptualized and prepared by Gallery Vask (Chefs Jose Luís González, Iván Saiz & Janice Domingo). Native cacao by Ritual.
Clara Lobregat Balaguer, director of The OCD, adds a final note of insight in a talk that analyzes the preexisting relationships and tangents between the players involved in this project. She tries to shed equal light and shadow on how practitioners from various fields, working sometimes together and sometimes independently, link food, (social) landscapes, design and research in the “bleeding edge of the last mile.”
act LAB