Let's have a bite! Making (some) sense of the performing food concept

The goal of this article is to take a first bite from the performing food concept. After some talks, books, videos and blog articles, basically after beating about the performing food phenomena it's finally time to dig in (while it's still hot). What came out is a matrix that puts in relation and can encompass any kind of PF (PF stands for performing food). This matrix, at least for now, does not solve bigger issues such as why is PF important or what does PF produce but it is important because it validates a specific performance or food type as being part of this PF continuum and puts in in relation to other performances or food types.

The food - performance – performing food matrix
This first attempt to formalize the performing food phenomena bases itself on a performing food matrix. Basically the goal of this approach is to present how varied in shape the performing food manifestations are and also to put in relation or proximity some of these.

The matrix I am talking about is a Cartesian xyz system that supports tracking and determining qualities of food performances on three axes:

• performance,
• food
• and the connection degree between food and performance

on three especially alloted separate value scales, graded from one to five.

On the food axis one means just referring to food, two means serving food (no cooking involved) and five means creating a dish with nutritional value, healthy, tasty, pleasing to the eye, all using professional means

1. Referring to food
2. Just serving
3. Paring and serving
4. Paring simple treatment and mixing and serving
5. Paring, heat treatment, mixing and serving

On the performing axis one means misinterpreting something as performance and five would means deliberately creating a representation for a specific purpose (esthetic, commercial, entertaining, religious, educational etc) professionally using an array of instruments (light, sound, tone, props, words, movement, music, sound effects, stage scenery etc.)

1. Nonmatrix performance: acting performed onstage which do not involve role playing
2. Symbolized matrix performing onstage actions which the spectator recognizes as belonging to a character, even dough the performer continues to behave as herself
3. Received acting onstage behavior in which the performer makes no attempt to impersonate a character, but it is nonetheless viewed as part of the situation of a scene. Extras practice received acting.
4. Simple acting when a performer simulates the speech and behavior of a character
5. Complex acting when the performer’s entire physical mental and emotional capabilities are involved in the portrayal of a character. (Schechner: 2006, p 175 -176)

On the ``Connection between food and performance axis`` the lowest connection degree stands for accidental, unintended paring of food and performance where the two evolve independent of each other while as five stands for a strong interconnection between food and performance where food is used at the same time both as an ingredient but also as an expression instrument.

1. No connection what so ever
2. Connected in meaning but running in parallel
3. Some of the actions are common for performing and cooking
4. Almost all actions are common for cooking and performing

The matrix would than look like this:





The study subjects
Varying in function, a performance using and referring to food aims to:

• entertain
• make something that is beautiful
• mark or change identity
• make or foster a community
• heal
• teach, persuade or convince
• deal with the sacred and / or the demonic (SCh p 46)

One of the things that I have understood in setting up this initial research is that it is best to refer to a specific and as precise as possible subject in order to be able to analyze it. Basically you have to refer to a performance in particular and not a certain type of food, or performance food, in general such as ``TV cooking shows``. From an analysis point of view it's not even wroth to refer to ``Jamie Oliver’s type of TV cooking show``. The study subjects can be performances (with one resulting dish or not) created by an author on a certain date. (For now at least because if you travel through a system long enough you undertaken it's shape and functions and you can describe it more general terms. So later some theory about performing food could emerge or about a certain type of performing food)

I have chosen ten types of performing food that I thought would, first and foremost, prove how diverse the field of P-ingF is:

• TV cooking shows
• Flair bar tending
• Latte art
• Religious rites (Theophagy)
• Social rites – birthday cake
• Gueridon service
• Social rites - entertaining guests
• Performance piece
• Social rites – the Russian podaccha
• Performance piece

All of these performances were firstly investigated from different perspectives to create a performing food certificate. The perspectives that the performances are consider under refer to both structure and function. About all this in one of my next posts.