Staging Nordic Table 2024 #NORDICFOOD2024

Staging Nordic Table 2024 was a closing statement from the Food & Creative Industries project, and at the same time, the beginning of a new platform for interplay between creators, investors, and agenda setters. The most powerful way to vision #nordicfood2024 is to find out what the important players of the present wish to emphasize, and to create a disclosure that illustrates where Nordic food is heading.

On December 2, the best minds in Nordic food and creative industries developed the following five #nordicfood2024 showcases. A staging that also should be seen as an extension to Nordiska Museet’s permanent exhibition “Dukade Bord” since 1955.

#1 Social media mapping as a tool to understand food-related values
The idea “Christmas present” is about playing with expectations in order to better understand and adopt present and future values of the customers. By checking out randomly invited guests’ social media profiles it was possible to identify their food values. Based on those findings a menu was prepared and served, where the guests were asked to interact and “hashtag” the experience, to see if it matched the predicted expectations. Team: Bo Lindegaard, Hafdís Sunna Hermannsdóttir, Richard McCormick

#2: An organic network of rural food systems and foodscapes
In the future, the consumption patterns will change and there will be other economical systems, not based on monetary value. There will be a great need for integration of the rural food systems with the urban communities. Rather than making the rural adapt the urban, the idea is to reverse the movement by breaking boundaries of communication and by opening collaboration. The idea was to tap into other sources of information than those obvious to us today, and share this information via an interactive platform constructed of actors and tasks that (inter)-activate the rural food realities and system.
Team: Josefin Vargö, Björn Ylipää, Edith Salminen

#3 Eat with us by eating with somebody you don’t know
The idea “Eat with me” is a field-study in community-design targeting scary figures like; 40% of us live alone, we’re getting more isolated and becoming strangers to each other. The idea is to break down the fourth wall that we have boxed ourselves into, and start new conversations by inviting somebody we don’t know to eat with us. The meal is a strong mechanism when interacting and food has a very powerful democratic source. This artistic staging refers to the vision of New Nordic Food being the people’s movement and illustrates an art of generosity.
Team: Brynhildur Pálsdóttir, Hiroko Tsuchimoto, Nikolaj Danielsen

#4 Eating will be something wired to other fields
"Generally, individual transactions will be connected into one big knowledge base. Eating will also be something wired to other fields. I stage a future table using Mx. <mixology>." The Mx. app collects input on 'combination, rating, description' of the combinations created, which is projected in real time on the screen. Many findings and inspirations can be attained from this database, collectively generated bottom-up, as Mx. permits randomness, playfulness, and a chance to pitch in with some magic. People could create data that inspires chefs for a change. With interdisciplinary thinking, the growth of our gastronomy can be achieved in various directions.  
Team: Prang Lerttaweewit </mixology>

#5 Interaction between wild and cultivated ecosystems
The idea was to show the necessity of interaction between wild and cultivated ecosystems. The search for new food sources that have less effect on the food chain is necessary, but also to intertwine the rural areas with the urban and suburban areas. In the urban areas there are many different culinary contexts and if products that are adjusted to the climate and culinary qualities are in demand - a new cuisine can arise. Biodiversity is a prerequisite for culinary diversity in the future. A pink (3D printed) hen was placed on top of the circle formed meal installation as a symbol of today’s failed system.
Team: Ayhan Aydin, Cecilie Dawes, Kristín María Sigþórsdóttir, Roar Svenning

Conclusion:

Driver of democracy: For 2024, we will have to tear down our safety net/walls and make food an integrated player in new social, public and technological spaces. Food will be a driver of democracy, and the design of new communities and relations will be critical for the development of a sustainable society.

Subcultures re-inventing Nordic food culture: The necessity of interaction between wild and cultivated ecosystems became clear. New innovative and sustainable food systems can emerge through new takes on e.g. traditions by including subcultures and segregated areas, as well as linking urban and rural areas closer by exchanging ideas, spaces and facilities.

Rethink utensils for the future: Rethink the perspectives and systems (education, living) of global change along with new languages, habits, tools and tech. New demographics create new needs and demands, and changing habits make e.g. the smart phone just as important a tool for a meal as the fork and knife. Also, it’s time to leave the stage to the future food fighters.

Interdisciplinary climate as a state-of-mind: A few years ago we were talking about a need for future cross-creative collaboration. Now, the staging and this first test of a collaborative platform have shown that an interdisciplinary climate is a state of mind for tomorrow’s players and entrepreneurs when interplaying and creating. This shows great potential for the creative environments in the Nordic region, but further support is needed to open up more platforms.

Invitation: nynordiskmad.org/Staging_Nordic_Table_2024-Invitation.pdf

For more information: Elisabet Skylare, elisabet@skylare.com, +45 26207579 Food and Creative Industry New Nordic Food II

Picture: New Nordic Food II

#NORDICFOOD2024 are a series of vision workshops, which will be about how far we need to go, to realise the vision of the Nordic kitchen in a number of selected areas in 10 years' time. The idea is to invite a group of leading players from across the Nordic region to discuss which activities and visions we should work on in the future, if a stronger Nordic food culture is to be an effective solution for future societal challenges.