The thought that fashion applies to city planning amuses me. I’ve never thought that way about the streets. I walk them everyday getting here and there, thinking if they are busy, sunny, pleasant, quiet, etc. but it never occurred to me that some streets are more in vogue than others. Apparently boulevards are urban landscape artefacts. Doesn’t feel that way in Vaasa though, I keep spotting these green corridors all over the city. I like them. When I cross the street and get on one of those neat paths in between the regimented trees, it makes me think that I am transported on a strange island, floating in some separate realm with its own time. I notice how my pace slows down and my body relaxes. Feels like I am invisible. In a good way.

In June 2023 I spent a few weeks in Vaasa as an artist in residence with Platform, where I developed a site-specific menu that drew attention to the wide streets and the tree-lined pedestrian islands on them. Carefully curated bites reflected on the fragments of the urban landscape, something we encounter everyday and yet rarely notice. Like a moment spent waiting for a traffic light to turn green or a generous tree canopy providing you shade on a sunny summer day.

To translate the idea of boulevard (which to me felt like a neat slice of park placed in the middle of the road) I created a three part menu. Each part (grass, gravel and tree) had few offerings for the participants to explore. Grass was about things taking time (3 generations of fermented rhubarb) and temporality of an action of crossing the street (ice cream soup eaten with melting spoon). We don't usually build houses on bridges and in the same way we don't tend to pause on pedestrian crossings, we just get across and keep going wherever we are heading to. Gravel was about the city being a container which holds structures from the past, present and future. I intended to draw the audience's focus to the city which burnt down (sourdough bread with cocoa nibs, served with burnt butter) and how that informed the structures which were rebuilt (boulevard sandwich with coffee of roasted dandelion root and baobab seed). The fireweed sorbet was served last as a symbol of regrowth and regeneration, which this weed signifies in burnt out areas. Finally the third part, Tree, was about different kind of structures, the ones to be experienced with our bodies rather than seen with our eyes. Trees holding hands (spruce tip ice lollies) in the middle of the urban traffic create a sanctuary, a calm spot like the one in the centre of the turning wheel. To experience this movement I invited participants to burn dandelion blossoms in order to toast the seeds. This was accompanied with pickled linden blossoms which were not yet in bloom. The very last bite was served on a sticky linden tree leaf with natural sugars produced by aphids sucking on tree juice. The leaf contained pine syrup and salty sugar with blackcurrant leaves, as well as bee pollen. This was eaten rolled up in a tube.

STRANGE ISLANDS
(where trees hold hands and no one says hello)

Vaasa, Finland
2023

tree

gravel

grass

- fermented rhubarb
(young with liquorice, mature with ginger, and very mature with cardamom);
- pineapple weed ice cream soup eaten with melting ice spoon made out of water.

menu

- sourdough with cocoa nibs, served with burnt butter and a knife dipped in date syrup, topped with mugwort;
- boulevard ice cream sandwich (crispy rye bread, cocoa nib infused parfait, toasted black sesame seed and burnt caramel crunch) served with dandelion root and baobab seed coffee;
- droplets of fireweed sorbet.

- pickled (pre)blossoms of linden tree & (after) blossoms of dandelion flower served with matches to be lit up for toasting the seeds;
- spruce tip ice lollies served in pairs (holding hands);
- sticky linden tree leaves with natural sugars (thanks to aphids) served with pine cone syrup, blackcurrant leave salty sugar, cocoa nibs and pollen

guests were invited to take a seat next to one of the tables and asked to rotate after completing the tasting of one of the parts.

grass is about time

gravel holds the structure

and trees hold hands

grass is about time

- fermented rhubarb

- pineapple weed ice cream soup eaten with melting ice spoon made out of water.

gravel holds the structure

- sourdough with cocoa nibs, served with burnt butter and a knife dipped in date syrup, topped with mugwort;

- droplets of fireweed sorbet.

- boulevard ice cream sandwich (crispy rye bread, cocoa nib infused parfait, toasted black sesame seed and burnt caramel crunch) served with dandelion root and baobab seed coffee;

and trees hold hands

- pickled (pre)blossoms of linden tree & (after) blossoms of dandelion flower served with matches to be lit up for toasting the seeds

- spruce tip ice lollies served in pairs (holding hands)

- sticky linden tree leaves with natural sugars (thanks to aphids) served with pine cone syrup, blackcurrant leave salty sugar, cocoa nibs and pollen

I would like to say thank you for the photos to the participants, Tanja and Jenni.