The Catastrophic Meal

Part of European Region of Gastronomy 2017
Presented by Justine de Valicourt and Jakob Vinkler, Food Organisation, Aarhus 2017 and Central Denmark Region 

What will be on the menu in the future? What kinds of foods might be available if the earth dries up, or the world is flooded? Perhaps if we look after the world a little better we might have a bountiful harvest of new foods in some forthcoming utopian era, but right now we are in the ‘anthropocene’ so we had better prepare ourselves for future food shock. 

The Catastrophic Meal thinks about these scenarios of eating and cooking and embarks upon a three-part gastronomic adventure. The first finds scientists, biologists, and zoologists together with Sci-Fi thinkers, scenario plotters and chefs discussing the potential larder of times to come. Together they will build a menu and then cook a meal for invited guests. The second event is open to the brave diner who dares to eat the future. Paying guests will sit down to a surprise supper prepared by the talented chefs and students of the West Jutland Cooking College.

Finally the Catastrophic Meal menu is brought to the open table at The People’s Feast as part of the Food Festival. Here everyone can sample the impending carte du jour of a brave or grave new world.