Let’s first recap each entry in a couple of sentences.
Cornish Saffron Buns
I intended this entry to focus on saffron’s journey to the southwest of England through the tin trade. Instead I learnt what my cuisine is, and what parts of it i’m protective of.
England, Thailand, Iran
Here I learnt that a frozen dessert can hold the flavour & memory of a place in one scoop, one question though, can you really see a flavour profile within a few flavours? Is it really that simple?
The Noma Guide to Fermentation
Perhaps my favourite entry. The highlight was that single passage – adapting techniques from around the world to the terroir of your own environment is the future of cuisine.
A Rosé Guide
Wine is a big wide world all of its own. The Rosé guide was my way of understanding a little portion of it. Wine doesn’t feel like a cuisine you can own and know intimately, well not for me anyway, it takes work to be a part of the world and this was the first small step.
Zealong Tea Estate
A few things came to light at Zealong but in essence, just through looking deeper at one plant – the tea plant you can see global mobilities at work, you can explore global preparation techniques and, at the end of it all you enjoy a high tea that’s come a long way from a simple afternoon tea.
Visiting Boxer
At Boxer it was so hard to see through the lens of just one theme. It felt like I had so many pairs of glasses on, fermentation glasses, culinary evolution glasses, even gastrophysics glasses.
The Cornish Cream Tea, A Timeline
The more I learnt about Cornish foods, the more it felt like it was a cuisine I could call my own. Besides that, I loved looking at the history of baking and it’s incredible evolution and movement.
Things i’m Trying to Do Better
If any part of this paper is about becoming a better citizen of the global food culture, a more educated citizen, then this is the underline.
In Conclusion
The food we eat, the drinks we drink they are constantly evolving, always adapting to new environments, needs, desires. I want to float an idea though, perhaps what we globally have in common is not our foods, or our beverages, but the techniques we use to prepare our food. It was fascinating to me how often fermentation was a sub theme of the entries and by expanding fermentation slightly, to include other chemical transformations this one theme would have linked all of our entries. From baking to boiling, frying to fire, all cuisines and cultures use these same techniques to produce our vastly different cuisines. Even if you’re using a native ingredient, one that doesn’t have a mobility story, or hasn’t evolved that much, you still prepare it. No similar utensil? You’re still preparing foods in the same ways. Time for a name change perhaps?