paul_stapleton01

Paul Stapleton: Proposal to the Centre for Suburban Research
I have an interest in food, not simply as a necessary requirement for survival. I am interested in how food is produced, transported, consumed, advertised, controlled, enjoyed, fetishized, disposed of, etc. I am interested in food as a weapon: from projectiles in food fights to the exploitation of producers and consumers by multinational companies such as Unilever. I am interested in how food plays such an important role in cultural identity, and how an increase in multi-cultural foods has revealed many of the same positive and negative consequences as the efforts made to move towards a multi-cultural or global society.
The acts of cooking for, and eating with, others has been for me both a source of meaningful self-reflection, as well as an important opportunity for exchange and relation. This is true in my experience of large-scale cooking projects (such as my somewhat awkward and politically motivated annual attempt to celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK), just as it is true in my more everyday experiences of cooking for my flatmate or a guest at my home in Manchester, for my girlfriend in her house near Glasgow, or for small groups of friends and family at my mothers home in Southern California. These food-related interactions have greatly shaped my understandings of places, individuals, communities, and myself (or my-selves, as a Mexican-American living in England, acting as an artist, researcher, hill walker, city dweller, traveller, with varying levels of poverty and prosperity, etc).
In an effort to gain an understanding of Belfast both as a city and as a place where the three of you live together, I propose the following plan over 5 days:
Day 1: I will go food shopping (on my own, on foot with shopping list, backpack, map and compass) to buy groceries for a meal I will cook on Day 2, and any other food items that your household requests. Essentially, we will be collaboratively producing a scavenger hunt that I will attempt to complete. I will be hoping to familiarise myself with the sources of food that are available in your local area (within a days return journey on foot), and to begin to get to know your individual food interests. I may explore a few other tangents depending on time constraints and my inclinations (this will be the case throughout the week).
Day 2: I will primarily spend the day preparing a meal. The contents of this meal will be dictated by your prior selections from a menu I have prepared (to arrive by post to your address shortly) and by my ability to find the ingredients necessary to prepare your selections.
Day 3: I will spend the day constructing a new menu, informed by my experiences of the week so far. Part of this activity will involve re-exploring your local area, looking at menus from eating establishments, searching for ingredients (and possibly finding unfamiliar ones). I will present the new menu at the end of the day.
Day 4: I will acquire the ingredients necessary to make your selections from my new menu.
Day 5: I will prepare a meal based on your selections. I will also put together an archive of my week.