El Calcehtok: A Food Adventure

2024

Food Performance

Food and drink – consummables – how have they shaped us?

In this food interaction, we isolate two staples that shaped their
respective cultures: rice on the islands known as Japan, and corn in the land known as Mexico.

Originally, many of our societies began as a cult around food – we
needed it to survive, and so we worshipped it. Now, it is such an
everyday routine that we tend to overlook the depth of our connection to food, though some rituals from the past survive.

In Japan, the cult of food is very much alive and well. For centuries, its peoples have innovated in their worship and appreciation of food, even going abroad to discover new flavors and attempt to perfect them back home. Every food experience becomes a carefully crafted adventure, cradled by care and obsession.

In Mexico, its peoples have had different problems to worry about, which I think has fed into the intensity and richness of flavors. The food is so tied to the land that anything made outside tends to transform into a new cuisine – it is not easy to replicate the flavors of Mexico.

Here, I am not trying to create a meal, nor am I providing a service.

I am bringing together the sweet earthiness of blue corn and the light bitterness of sake in this moment.