Hi
I am a 19 year old gastronomy student, i have been training and studying on my for about four years, and plan on becoming a cook and eventually establishing my own restaurant. Recently i have been thinking on how to express complex ideas through culinary, if it is possible to take a certain vision of the world (from any kind of thinker) and translate to a dish or series of dishes - i will elaborate more in a postscript for anyone interested. Besides that, if you have any ideas you'd like to discuss or even just chat about cooking, please feel more than welcome to message me here or on my email
[Host's note: Email address removed]
PS: I will try to summarize the concept that gave me the idea. Brazil has a huge territory, with very different climates, economic situations and ethnic groups, so, a few centuries ago, when it was being populated, one of the main questions was " How to we make such a diverse group of people feel like they all belong to this nation, how do we make tem feel like a family?". One of the answers, by the Brazilian thinker Alberto Torres, established that such bonds would be the result of the exploration of the territory. Essentially, the people of Brazil would come to recognize themselves as Brazilians through the endeavor that was settling the land. The ideia itself is of course much deeper, i just presented enough so i could talk about how i think it can be expressed through cooking. The way i imagined the composition of the dish is as follows: a base, representing the territory (probably yucca, the national ingredient of Brazil), with smaller elements distributed on top, each representing the main Brazilian ethnic groups (Portuguese, west Africans and Natives) and a sauce covering such elements to indicated their "integration" or "oneness". Naturally the ingredient chosen to represent the Natives would be of Native origin, and the one for the Portuguese and west African as well. Now, this ideia is simply an example of how i think it is possible to convey ideas through cooking, in no way i am stuck to Brazil or even sociology and history. This ideia may also be a little simple, i believe the concept can be pushed further. Anyway, I am interested in all kinds of expressions of ideas through food, if you are too let's talk.