Place as a Foundation of Culture

 

All in all, place serves as the foundation of culturem making space for  both human culture and the natural culture of the environment. Being closer to the origin of produce not only deepens one’s connection to human traditions but also increases the likelihood of experiencing the micro-organism cultures that thrive in the surrounding ecosystem. These micro-organisms, including bacteria, fungi and other microscopic life forms contribute to the taste of a meal – especially when the micro-organisms collaborate in the fermentation of produce.

​

I therefor wonder whether using the word habitat instead of terroir, would contribute to highlight the aliveness of the land and of place itself. In the context of an ecosystem, a habitat refers to the specific environment or space where a particular organism or community of organisms lives. It includes both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors. Each habitat supports a unique set of species adapted to its specific conditions, creating a complex web of interactions within an ecosystem. 

​

In cities, the built environment, including architecture, infrastructure, public spaces and private corners, forms what could be called the foundation of the urban habitat. These structures create their own nature, their own character, different from city to city. And can be deconstructed and analysed in similar matters as biologists do to understand natural habitats.

​

My thoughts return to a conversation with Anette Krogstad, the artist and designer who made the plating objects for renowned restaurant Noma. In her studio, she shared memories of a restaurant called Pjoltergeist that used to live in the lower floor of an apartment building in Tøyen, a district in Oslo. Pjoltergeist had something unconventional, something seriously striking, something unforgettable that not many restaurants are capable of. The reason I take up Pjoltergeist, is that I believe it must have had a connection to the surrounding, to the neighbourhood, that was truly alive. It was part of its habitat, it reflected it and interacted with it and thereby brought out the essence of the place.

​

It must have truly been place as the immediacy of culture. She said that one never knew what to expect there and suppose that the space carried this very notion of excitement in its essence. Sadly, I have not experienced Pjoltergeist myself, I was in a way late to the party. All I can do now is look through old images that visitors uploaded on google maps and try to imagine how it felt – through the eyes of a distant spectator. There is something warm in looking through pictures on google maps taken with the camera of an smart phone when smart phones didn’t have cameras that work well in low light yet. There is something cozy in looking through blurry, dark pictures, taken for the sake of the personal memory. Often the pictures don’t even depict the food, just a plate or a bowl, carefully scraped for the last bit of its delicious content. The plates are of the type one has with 19, living in a flat share and all the plates and glasses one owns are found somewhere, not bought. Each with of them with their own personality and notches and impossible to stable on top of each other in the shelf. Personally, I think those plates paired with the solidly extraordinary wine choices, is brilliant humour.

​

The problem is – and that is when it hit me – a great culinary space is about the immediacy, the aliveness of experience. Culinary space and the feeling of it cannot be reproduced visually through images. It is an experience of all senses, it has to be felt, heard, smelled and tasted to be understood. It is the act of experiencing that brings and keeps the space alive. Moreover, identity lies within the people and the culture, not within the notion of place alone.

​

While the essence of identity is rooted in the people and culture that make a space come alive, it is also through culinary practices that this aliveness is expressed. Nordic cuisine aims to create the illusion of a living environment being served on a plate. It is about understanding and “deconstructing habitats” (Redzepi, 2015, p.14). This understanding sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the relation between place – cuisine – space – design in the context of time.