Utopian and Dystopian Meals: Food Art, Gastropolitics and the Anthropocene

Abstract

The exploration of alternative foodscapes is a clear attempt at re-localizing food in contrast with agro-industrial globalization and its environmental, economic and social unsustainability. Art has dramatically contributed with speculations on what has been called “survival food”. This paper analyzes three case studies: “The Next Menu”, a gastronomical art project designed to imagine a future supper and explore new or overlooked sources of nutrition to respond to climate change constraints; the “De-Extinction Dinner” by the Center for the Genomic Gastronomy, an experiment in cross-pollination of amateur science with multimedia art; Dana Sherwood’s work involving decadent cakes to feed non-human animals with the purpose to understand interspecies relations.