Last Experiment: Co-Performing Food

“How can recipes contribute to co-creation? especially when we are far apart.”

A recipe, while it can be vague or explicit to varying extents, is still directional: from recipe-writer to recipe-doer. Of course, you can reach out to the recipe-writer if they are your friend or family, ask them for clarifications (or make it entirely your own), but do they inhabit the same space as you when you cook? do you feel their presence in your kitchen? 

I personally struggle with that. In recipes I find from less cherished sources (re: internet), I feel entirely alone - like I stumbled upon a forgotten story but how I tell it has no significance. I will likely change it, or not, depending on my mood.

In recipes I find from more cherished sources, like my Savta’s cooking, I want to recreate the recipe more closely in order to relive what only exists in my memories - the perfect cheesecake. However, she doesn’t make it easy. The recipe is just a series of suggestions. Guessing what she might be thinking does bring her into my kitchen (“would Savta whisk the eggs a lot? probably not.. it takes too much time and she is busy”) but the results are dismaying. I never successfully recreated that cheesecake. 

A recipe is directional. It is transactional. Food sharing is also directional. However, we have found ways around that in the potluck or the communal dinner party - everyone cooks, everyone contributes.

These days we cannot meet, but can we still use food to create shared spaces around us? Sharing a recipe doesn’t take us very far. The recipe-writer stays in her chair. The recipe-doer stays in her kitchen. The two don’t meet. 

But maybe a co-cooking session would work better. 

Here is an event score, framed through questions who’s actions and reactions could begin to define a shared space for the participants: 

Now, I invite you:

Will you co-create with me?