A book about something everybody knows but no one really...

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:56:15 +0100

Have you heard of synesthesia? Maybe not.
Have you ever had the experience of eating something and suddenly your brain takes you back to a time and place that you had forgotten? Probably yes. This particular example is called a Proust remembrance (remember Proust and his Madeleine cookie?)
Well that is synesthesia. But it is much more. Wikipedia definition: Synesthesia is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. Examples are people that see colour with numbers or hear sounds while reading letters.
I’m not an expert in this field but Cretien van Campen is. I met him when I did a presentation at the Social and Cultural Planning Office of the Netherlands where he is senior researcher. Besides his work there he is doing his own research on synesthesia. He recently published his third book about this subject. Unfortunately it’s in Dutch but I expect it to be translated soon. (If you are English speaking; his first two books are available in English: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/author/default.asp?aid=12063)
The new book is called ‘Gekleurd verleden’ which could be translated as ‘Coloured history’ which partly explores the subject through the story of Proust and partly provides engaging stories from synesthetes and examples of projects where synesthesia is used in practice. That’s where I come in. Cretien uses my war food project where I served original recipes from world war 2 to people that lived in that time and got back memories of their childhood in wartime.
Van Campen’s personal way of writing woven trough a mosaic of examples, stories and explorations makes this book a treat to read. It is a journey of experiences that everybody knows and have had featured in many different ways. I read it in one weekend. Not only because I had a deadline to provide some lines of text for the cover !!

Dear Mr. or Mrs. Wholefoods

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 20:51:23 +0200

Can you please, PLEASE start a wholefoods in the Netherlands? please, please, pretty please........

the city so nice they named it twice

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:49:15 +0200

Well the picture above is when I left. For some reason I was taken to the airport in a strech limo (the best place to feel alone is to be in a strech limo by yourself) Because I found the whole thing so hilarious I forgot my suitcase in the hotel which then had to be fed-exed to my house for too much money. Conclusion: free limo’s are expensive.
So I went to New York to speak at the AIGA GAIN conference. The night before the conference the Dutch consul Ferdinand Dorsman hosted a VIP party at his premises in my honor. WOW! I start blushing again when I write this down.
We served our famous cocktail the FULL FRONTAL FLOWER SHOWER with name tags in various names (except your own) to become someone else for a night.
Thank you Ferdinand, it was a lovely evening!

The next day I was drowned in great presentations at the AIGA conference at the Sheraton towers hotel. For some funny reason the F&B part of the hotel was run by old, musty men making funny remarks serving horrific old musty food. Just after my presentation I was speaking to a fine gentleman while started gagging trying to push a crabcake down my throat. He (the fine gentleman, not the waiter) elegantly provided some napkins for me to dispose of it. Well this is off topic. Or is it not? Besides the food the AIGA conference was a highly engaging experience.
My personal highlights were listening to Jonathan Harris’s personal journey trough arts and computer programming.
See more about his truly beautiful work at listen to some of his talks at: http://www.number27.org/news.html
Besides her fantastic job as a moderator Paola Antonelli (MOMA http://moma.org/) gave a brilliant insiders peak showing the diversity of interdisciplinary design and creativity.
Eventually I didn’t feel too bad about J. Allard from Microsort missing on stage for being ill. He was replaced by Stanley Hainsworth who struck me with his story full of serendipity and personality. http://www.tetherinc.com

Food design is shit

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:43:33 +0200

It was my first thought when Design Report asked me to design a cover for them. It makes sense. All edible design will eventually be taken to the toilet. Besides the truth of the sentence I thought this cover could perhaps have the potency to become a best selling cover. If you think sex sells, try shit.

The cover was rejected.....

! the new winter menu is here!!

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:27:34 +0200

Honestly, I couldn’t wait to start with our autumn/ winter menu at Proef. Even though everybody was still deeply in love with the summer menu I just couldn’t justify to myself using these summer ingredients anymore. AND I had so many delicious winter plans!
We had to wait a little because we had to find our new lady chef Niek first. And when we got her... I was bouncing! The new menu includes for example, a fantastic small dish of buttery halibut, barley and soft textured sauerkraut (all dishes at Proef are small, remember? It’s like having tapas without any Spanish thoughts around it) It was love at first bite!
We have some lovely warm chestnuts with a balsamic-sweet garlic dip, a superb lentil salad with crispy kohlrabi, A glossy and creamy jacked potato with crispy pata negra and DIY cheeses and fresh herbs. Then we’ve got two new all time winter favorites: a lovely tender stew of local beef Dutch style served in a cabbage leaf bowl and a pocket-size cheese-fondue of fantastic local cheeses with a variety of mushrooms and lovely things to dip and dribble.
Thanks to Niek these treats (plus some specials!) are now served at Proef every day! Well, I just got hungry so, good bye!