Eyes on the Field
Eyes on the Field was a farm visit and a dinner.
At Formiga Gloriosa, participants went on species-quests: observing, identifying and making connections between the organisms living there. What they found became the dinner at Venn Canteen.
The event also introduced BITZ, a digital tool developed by Nicetrails and Genomic Gastronomy for observing and recording the biodiversity of a place.
Workshop
Friday 16 May. A farm visit for a group of 10 to 15, out from Porto to Formiga Gloriosa in Trofa, with a web app and a printed field guide: half the group with phones, half with pencils, then swap. A picnic lunch by Venn. On the recce a fortnight earlier, the list of what was living on the farm had run to forty-five names, from amaranth sprouts, borage and corn marigold to a black slug, a crane fly, a honey bee, an oak and an unidentified caterpillar.
Dinner
Sunday 18 May. Guests came in at half past five to the basement, where the network of species from the farm was projected on the wall, and a welcome drink. Then upstairs, to the table. The menu card had the species list stapled to it, in Portuguese, English and Latin.
- welcome drink: elderflower cordial, with ice cubes of artemisia, thyme and oregano
- starter: cold beetroot soup, cucumber, radish, dill, chives and chive flowers, the soup fermented with a starflower kvass
- first dish: fried and marinated mushrooms, oyster and chanterelle; a salad of wild leaves and herbs, dock, nasturtium, fennel, wild spinach, tradescantia, chard, celery; nettle and brewer's yeast sauce
- second dish: lasagnette of acorn and barbela wheat, borage flowers, a raw almond and olive oil sauce
- dessert: oat ice cream and flowers, calendula and elderflower honey, lemon verbena tempura, loquat
Dessert was set on a separate table, so people got up, went back down to the basement, and talked.
Gallery
