Posted on Sun, 12 Jun 2011
Ayako Suwa’s Strange Feast Of Feelings
Food is a sensory thing. But with food artist Ayako Suwa, senses really take flight, turn helter skelter and off into distant orbit when you sit down to dine on her ‘food art’. Remember what mom said about not playing with your food? Well, that’s all out the window with her take on meals!
While most artists use paints for their artwork, Suwa uses food and ingredients….so you literally eat the art! Through it, she hopes that you would ‘taste’ emotions….way beyond feelings like ‘delicious’ to moods like rendering sorrow, untold delight, pride, anger, etc. As you consume her art, you become part of it – that’s what this super-model-esque Japanese artist tries to express.
Nebulous? Intangible? Inexplicable? Duuh? Yes, me too, until I sat down to lunch with her and a tableful of equally curious writers, and only then was I able to grasp at least part of what she was trying to communicate. Whether you think it’s artistic and clever or sheer hocus pocus, top marks must be given to originality of thought.
If you are curious, buy a ticket for dinner at her pop up ‘Guerilla Restaurant’ at TripleOne Somerset 24-25 June. I guarantee it will be a most unforgettable dinner way beyond what any Michelin star restaurant can offer. It’s a mad hatter’s party, sit- down dinner and Dali-esque art installation all rolled into one, and you are part of it. What’s more, proceeds from the dinner go to Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.
How about a starter of fresh oysters in a lime-chilli dressing with a drop of anger? A glass of Coke with a taste of comfort? Or chawan mushi with a sprinkling of rendering sorrow? As part of her palette, Ayako had worked with sake company Kanazawa to develop a range of complex emotional edible essences which are dropped into food, and which brings forth suggestions of such emotions. We tasted four of them – anger, pleasure, comfort and sorrow – but of course, we reacted differently. While a friend felt a sense of loneliness when she tasted sorrow, I thought it was strangely mellow. Yes, I realise, even as I write, that this is pretty hard to grasp.
Ayako Suwa will be presenting a menu of food infused with such essences. Try it for yourself to see if they inspire such emotions. How does she explain it? When you sample food with a taste of ‘anger’, “you experience this as the taste of anger, thought you are not to actually feel angry”.
The dishes served on those evenings are developed from the viewpoint of an artist rather than a chef, so you can be sure that at the Guerilla Restaurant, you’ll be eating some pretty weird and wonderful stuff! The theme is the emotional roller coaster of shopping. At just S$85++, I think it is well worth sitting down to her inexplicable dinner and experience this for yourself. If you miss out on this opportunity, certain restaurants in the mall will also be serving special ‘emotional menus’ using her essences from 26 June.
On a less sublime level, she will also be using ingredients to make little food sculptures which aim to capture such moods and emotions. She will be exhibiting 111 of them at TripleOne Somerset until 24 July. See the pictures?
For tickets to her Guerilla Restaurant – here today, gone tomorrow – log onto www.sistic.com. Good for the curious, hungry and artistically inclined. This will definitely give you a totally new perspective on food and art!
