YARROW
Dishes 1 & 2, Reed Arts Week (RAW)
Given theme: Daemon
Dish 3, Impending
Traditionally used in apotropaic rituals (as protection against evil) yarrow itself is a daemon: a communicative force, a ward. Known as devil's nettle, this herb is used ceremonially as a randomizing agent (its expanse, rhizomatic).
Medicinally ingested or topically applied, yarrow's beneficial properties can turn toxic if not properly balanced. Indeed, one should not invoke the gods too often.
As such, our small dishes seek to play on and explicate this delicate balance. Through reversals and exaggerations, yarrow takes center stage in a vanishing act.
DISH 1, "Bird's Nest"
Ingredients: egg, yarrow, chive, potato fibers, cultured cream, ash
November 2013
50 eaters
Prexy, Reed College
Portland, Oregon
DISH 2, "Gruit Ale"
Two vintages (gold and blue) with microbial differences
Ingredients: wheat, rye, yeast, yarrow, chamomile, water
March 2014
100 eaters
Chapel, Reed College
Portland, Oregon
DISH 3, "Seedlings of a Dream"
Impending potential
Yarrow, an aerial x-ray. Aerosol, acrylic, oil, brakefluid, and powder on paper.
In Diderot’s D’Alembert’s Dream one of the characters says:
When Epicurus maintained that the earth contained the seeds of all living things, and that all animals were the products of fermentation, what if he had proposed to show on a small scale the same picture that he draws to represent the beginning of the world on a large scale - what kind of answer could one make?
The event structure grows as yarrow, a rhizomatic dinner. A series of tables, large and small, occupies the space, with each table accompanied by its own course. The diner moves freely from one to the next in any order, or just tries a single table.
Potentials of the Menu:
Fermented beverages
Yarrow with sandy, loamy, and heavy soils
Architecture of cruelty: meat, smoked and flamed
Luxury of the mundane
Dryness
Blood and sedation
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sam Yehros (assistance with cooking)
Jac Nelson (assistance with documentation)
Hugh Schlessinger (collaboration with Gruit Ale)