Waste Proposal Unit
From Critical Practice Chelsea
Summary
Waste Proposal Unit is a project by Mike Knowlden. Its first stage took place at the Market of Ideas at the London Festival of Europe. This was an attempt to chart a ‘market’ within the Market based on the unrealised potential inherent in the domestic food waste of the Market’s visitors.
In conversation with members of the Market crowd, lists of leftover meals and ingredients were compiled. These were later used as the basis of a series of recipes. These recipes comprise a description of this market within the Market and also a resource to which the visitors and others can refer in future.
I see this work as allied to the work of the Critical Practice project Beyond The Free Market, in particular the Free Market Kitchen, Beyond Jam and the Make-In which generated ‘Green Gifts’.
Shortly after the Market of Ideas, on 14th May 2008 Mike Knowlden and Josh Pollen travelled to the Outpost Gallery in Norwich to take part in the series of events around the exhibition Kaavous Clayton meets Martino Gamper. At Outpost, we spent the day cooking with the listed ingredients documented at the Market of Ideas. Through improvising with these ingredients, chiefly household stapes that might be combined with a base of rice or pasta - two of the most common leftovers - we generated five very simple recipes that could be used and adapted to finish up food that would otherwise be wasted. The food we cooked in Norwich was offered for free, and in all we served around fifty people over two sittings. The recipes are available to view through the link below.
Forthcoming
In July 2009 Waste Proposal Unit will make another outing to Norwich to take part in the Outpost Gallery's Outhouse residency project, part of CAN '09. I will be spending a week at Outhouse, charting the local culinary culture and seeking interactions with growers, retailers and enthusiasts. The week will culminate with an event presenting food based on these interactions, on the evening of Tuesday 7th July at Outhouse, open to all. I will document the recipes from this event on the wiki.
Further Material
Norwich Outpost Gallery Recipe Resource
Food Rescue Log - Invitation to contribute
Links and Resources
Market of Ideas Proposal
return to London Festival of Europe
