NEW NATIONAL DISH: POLAND draws on current economic, ecological, scientific and culinary trends to forecast and prototype four new national dish scenarios for the year 2050.
Changes to the human food system are being driven by factors such as climate change, demographic trends, migratory patterns, technological disruptions and cultural innovations. Although a relatively recent phenomenon, national dishes are under pressure to accommodate these changes while still remaining relevant to citizens.
What constitutes a national dish anyway? Or a country for that matter? If climate change means that a key ingredient to a national dish can no longer be grown within a country’s borders, is it time for an update?
In Poland, we were commissioned to imagine four new national dish scenarios for 2050 to be installed at Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland.
New National Dish: Poland features four different possible future scenarios for Poland in the year 2025. The scenario planning “table” is broken into 4 quadrants, each shaped by a different combination of drivers of change. Each scenario includes a name, story, and recipe communicated in English, Polish, and Russian.
Example scenario:
QUADRANT A: Technoscientific – Dynamic
STORY NAME: CONTESTATIONAL CUISINE
DISH NAME: User-Generated Kotlet Schabowy
STORY: In the year 2050… cuisine is a contest. Everything is for sale and everyone has a different opinion about what counts as a climate conscious diet. New technologies lead to new food products. These products cater to any imaginable food preference. Pick your protein: farmed pork cutlet, wild forest pig, sheets of lab-grown meat or genetically engineered microbes that convert pollution into synthetic bacon paste. Or don’t eat any meat at all. It’s up to you.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
KEY INGREDIENTS:
“MEAT”:
• Pick your preferred protein: wild, organic, synthetic or otherCOATING
• High-antioxidant Transgenic FLAX seed (B/PL/04/02-02)SAUCE:
• Natural WINE from China
• South Indian APPLE pachadi (pickle)
• Blue OYSTER MUSHROOMS grown on coffee grounds
INSTRUCTIONS: If your “meat” did not come flat-packed, pound it as flat as possible with a mallet. Crush the flax seed with a food processor, and separate out the egg whites. Drag your “meat” sheets through the egg white and coat with flax seeds. Fry in oil. Prepare the sauce by reducing the wine and apple pachadi (pickle) in a pan. Add chopped mushrooms. Serve cutlet with sauce ladled on top.