October 7, 2009

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We intend to sing 

the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.

Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our poetry.

Up to now literature has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and sleep.

We intend to exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia

the racer’s stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap.

We affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty:

the beauty of speed.

A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath—a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.

We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit.

The poet must spend himself with ardor, splendor, and generosity, to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements.

Except in struggle, there is no more beauty. No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetry must be conceived as a violent attack on unknown forces, to reduce and prostrate them before man.

We stand on the last promontory of the centuries!… Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday.

We already live in the absolutebecause we have created eternal, omnipresent speed.

We will glorify war

the world’s only hygiene

militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman.

We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism,

feminism

every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice.

We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons; greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives

adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd.

Photos by Charles Villyard, squash and Don Hicks

OPENfuture

After storing it at Avedano’s , we spit-roasted, a 650 lb grassfed Dexter steer from Green String Farm for 20 hours at Alemany Farm . The cooked steer was then loaded on a trailer pulled by a tricycle, for the 6.7 miles distance and delivered to SFMOMA by bike messengers.

The evening started with Luciano Chessa declaiming a futurist piece from a megaphone until a couple bikers circled the museum’s atrium, the tricycle, then, pulled in and the main course was laid on the custom made butcher-block style table made with wood reclaimed from a 1927 granary in Moscow, Idaho. A blanket woven with aluminum strips for the occasion covering the steer on it’s trip was hung from the balcony. More layers of aluminum foil  protecting the steer during spit-roasting were removed as well as a large bunch of fragrant wild fennel filling the cavity of the the carcass.

A group of women carved the animal and the meat was distributed to the different food stations by a conveyor belt. Some of the meat was ground  and scooped on top of corn tortilla cones, a reference to the role of corn in the beef industry; the rest of the meat was served as a main course with a topping of mole and bean foam representing oil and methane, two product associated with industrial meat production. We also served a tomato filled with halibut tartar, a nod to the genetic manipulations of tomatoes. This central part of the meal was a reflection on the effect of modernity of our food system. The meal also included  toasts with porcinis foraged in San Francisco, a vegetarian stew with produce from urban farms and a red beet terrine molded in the shape of a heart; plus wine from Scribe Winery, custom cocktails and a grappa which distillation involved the roasted tongue, heart and tail of the steer.

At the end of the carving a model of a Piper Pawnee, the plane used by industrial agriculture to spray chemicals, flew over the room and dusted the air with orange flower water that had been infused with orange peels from the orchard of the inventor of Agent Orange. The event ended with the sound of a siren and parachutes holding dessert in the form of paneforte dropped from the rotunda.

The whole event was framed by two large video projections on opposite walls of the atrium, plus a video projection of the steer roasting at night in the adjacent room and an original sound piece.

Special thanks to Avedano’s Holly Park Market, St Georges Spirits, Scribe Winery, Jason /Alemany Farm, Chris Kronner/Bar Tartine, Tartine Bakery, Magnolia Brewery, Ryan Farr, Kelsie Kerr and the carving crew, Howie Correa and the biking crew, Chris Lee and Samin Nosrat, Sasha Wizansky, Leslie Terzian Markoff, Heritage Salvage, Jack Cannard/Green String Farm and the roasting crew, Chris Sollars/video, Matt Volla/sound plus Frank Smigiel, Gina Basso and Jim Weber at SFMOMA and everyone who participated, either cooking, serving, helping out or hanging out.

Read more about OPENfuture at Samin’s blog, EAT ME DAILY, tablehopper, THE EASTSIDE VIEW, SFgate, civil eats.

OPENfuture: Spinning Marinetti’s Wheels

SFMOMA, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Atrium

Saturday, October 17, 2009

8:00 p.m.

Part of Metal + Machine + Manifesto = Futurism’s First 100 Years.

Feeding on Futurism’s appetite for destruction, OPENrestaurant revisits F. T. Marinetti’s provocative Futurist Cookbook from 1932 — which combined polemics with actual recipes designed to transform society — and realigns the movement’s arguably fascist palate with a more sustainable approach to life. Look for cyclists delivering a locally sourced “wild beast” and a women-only kitchen carving edible sculptures against a backdrop of stadium seating, emergency sirens, and spinning walls. Guests attending this clamorous banquet can expect to exalt in sounds, smells, and constant motion, and delight in, among other things, beef ice-cream cones, avocado cocktails, and flying panforte.

$65 general; $50 SFMOMA and partner institution members, students, and seniors.

Tickets are available at the Museum (with no surcharge) or online.

To purchase your tickets, please visit:

http://www.sfmoma.org/events/1461

April 17, 2009

.For the Rising Tides conference at CCA, OPENrestaurant served DON’T BAKE ALASKA a Baked Alaska made with ingredients sourced from companies taking an active role in protecting the environment.

meyer lemons/Forage Oakland

Imagine gathering several friends for morning, midday, evening
or weekend foraged city bicycle rides through your neighborhood.
Rough maps are drawn, noting the forage-ables that can be found
at each location and ‘cold calls’ are made to your neighbors
asking if you can sample a fruit from their backyard tree.
You have the courage to introduce yourself
(despite the pervasiveness and acceptance of urban anomie)
and they reward your neighborliness with a sample of Santa Rosa plums,
for example.

cane sugar/Global Organics LTD

Cane is green harvested not burned,
saving 40,000 metric tons of CO2
and 13,419 metric tons of dangerous green house gases
(carbon monoxide, ammonia, etc.) emissions per year.
Green harvesting also saves 3.5 million liters of water per hour at the mill.

eggs/Soul Food Farm

We turn sunlight, grass, bugs, and high-quality domestic feed
into animals that live a healthy and humane life
— free to roam in fresh air and peck and take dust baths —
and then into delicious and healthy food.

flour/Full Belly Farm

Growing and marketing over 80 different crops;
providing year-round employment for farm labor;
using cover crops that fix nitrogen and provide organic matter for the soil;
developing innovative marketing strategies;
and planting habitat areas for beneficial insects and wildlife.
This set of strategies allows the farm to integrate farm production
with longer-term environmental goals.

milk and butter/Straus Family Creamery

The byproduct of anaerobic digestion is methane gas.
There is sixty percent methane, along with carbon dioxide
and a small amount of hydrogen sulfide that is produced.
The tarp that covers the pond captures the gases and they flow to a combustion engine.
The methane fuels the engine of the generator.
The generator then produces electricity.
Heat created by the combustion engine is also used to heat water for the dairy.
This 180-degree water is used for cleaning barns.

water/San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

We work with residents, businesses and communities
to recognize the importance of using water wisely
and offer a variety of water saving programs and incentives.

We also gave away candied lemon peels

Learn to make candied citrus peels here

January 06, 2009

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Photo by mercedesfromtheeighties

OPENsoil: Beans & Greens is Tamar Adler, Sacha Bernstein, Martin Bournhonesque, Novella Carpenter, Dylan Carter,  Siew-Chinn Chin, Leif Hedendal, Howie Correa, Gordon Jenkins, Barbara Finnin/City Slicker farms, Chris Kronner, Christa Manalo, Oliver Monday, Moonlight Brewing co., Phipps Ranch, Stacie Pierce, Tartine Bakery, Jesse Schlessinger, Carl Sutton/Sutton Cellars, Vanessa Lavorato, Jerome Waag, Asiya Wadud, Sam White, Todd Williams

WHERE IS YOUR GARDEN ?

On TUESDAY January 06, 2009 at 7 pm, join us in association with Slow Food Nation for an evening of discussions around the question: “How do we make the urban landscape more productive?”

We will be hosting urban farmers, foragers, homesteaders, and members of Slow Food Nation who will be on hand to discuss and share their expertise and help us all start thinking towards spring and planning our spring gardens.

All this around a bowl of hardy greens, beans and (or without) ham stew, rillettes and a glass of wine.

Open and free to everyone. Meal and a glass of wine is $20. Wine and beer available.

More at: http://www.ybca.org/tickets/production/view.aspx?id=8638

On Thursday, November 20, 2008, OPENrestaurant butchered and cooked a pig in the SFMOMA’s kitchen for the reception following a lecture on visual performance art by RoseLee Goldberg.

Photos by Aimee Friberg

OPENbutcher is Devil’s Gulch Ranch, Howie Correa, Chris Kronner, Christa Manalo, Andrew Mariani/Scribe Winery, Nico Monday, Oliver Monday, Amelia O’Reilly, Stacie Pierce, Fanny Singer, Tartine Bakery, Vanessa Lavorato, Jerome Waag, Sam White

September 13, 2008

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OPENcity

For OPENcity we cooked and served a meal with ingredients sourced  within the urban perimeter of Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco. The event included Marksearch’s Temescal Seed Swap cart, a large map for produce location, a bike powered ice cream maker and a live chicken coop.

Urban Farmers

SAN FRANCISCO: 700 Alemany Blvd–Strawberries, Bush Beans, Basil, Tomatoes, Squash, Cucumbers, Kale, Salad Greens–Alemany Farm ~ 18th st & Guerrero St-Salad Greens, Amaranth, Chard, Tomatoes, Bush Beans-Brooke & Caitlyn ~ 25th St & York St–Herbs-Kim ~ Glen Park–Honey-Steven Cameron ~ Haight St–Beer–Magnolia Brewery ~ Folsom St & Sherman St–Nettles-Victoria Manalo Draves Community Garden ~ 7th St–Fennel–Jerome Waag ~ Golden Gate Park–Blackberry Jam-Amy Balkin ~ Mount Sutro–Nasturtium Relish–El Fornio Historical Society ~ Ocean Beach–Salt-Stacie Pierce ~ Point Bonita–Halibut–Monterey Fish ~ San Francisco Bay–Anchovies-Monterey Fish. OAKLAND: 16th St & Center St-Nettles–City Slicker Farms ~ Oakland–Plum Wine-Found Fruit, Kim DiGiacomo ~ Temescal–Quince, Apples–Forage Oakland ~ McCall St–eggs-Kelsie Kerr ~ Temescal-Seeds–Marksearch ~ 28th St & MLK–Chickens, Rabbits, Coppa–Novella Carpenter ~ East 12th st–Rocket, Tomatoes-Ascend Garden ~ 45th St–Apples-Karen Matthews ~ 55th St–Peppers, Tomatoes, Apples–The People’s Grocery. BERKELEY: Berkeley–Wine–Edmunds St John ~ 4th St–Coppa, Vin d’Orange, Fennel Liqueur–Eccolo Restaurant ~ Vine St–Cherry Tomatoes, Parsley, Mint-Oliver Monday ~ Monterey Blvd–Herbs–Alice Waters ~ Virginia St–Apples, Herbs-Samantha Greenwood ~ Claremont Canyon–Honey-Whitney Ludwig ~ Alcatraz Ave–Hops, Beer, Foccacia–Dylan Carter ~ Essex St–Eggplant, Tomatoes, Shelling Beans-Adrea Tencer ~ Harmon St–Heirloom Tomatoes–Ayako Iino~ Roble Rd–Tomatoes, Meyer Lemons, Eureka Lemons, Shallots, Eggs-M. Brenner ~ Delaware St–Purslane-Jonathan Waters ~ Rose St–Garlic, Chard–Edible Schoolyard ~ Keeler Ave–Plums-Liu Baifang. EL CERRITO: Panama St–Black Krim Russian Tomatoes–Janet Hankinson. ALAMEDA: West Ranger Ave–Squash, Mint–Alameda Point Collaborative . MARIN: Marin–Carrots, Chard, Lettuces-Vicky.

The menu included vin d’orange and coppa made by Chris Lee at Eccolo, Halibut caught outside the Golden Gate bridge and seasoned with salt made from seawater collected in the same area, rabbits raised in West Oakland and “pluot” plums foraged in the Berkeley hills

photos by squash

OPENcity was made possible by the dedication and passion of the Bay Area’s urban farming community

~ Thank you all!

photos by OPENrestaurant

OPENcity is also Claire Bell, Dylan Carter, Jed Cote, Suzanne Drexhage, DeeAnn Freitas, Jenny, Daniel Gallegos, Marisa Hockenberry, Ayako Iino, Kelsie Kerr, Chris Kronner,  Christa Manalo, Marksearch, Oliver Monday, Stacie Pierce, Roderic Ridgway, Tony Cutajar, Ian Gatt,  Jerome Waag, Sam White, Todd Williams

East Bay Pictures International, a production company based in Berkeley, California, filmed the event for their upcoming feature documentary Edible City

OPENcity at New Langton Arts – Saturday, September13, 2008

This time around, as a way to include as many people as possible, the dinner will be held in two parts:

-First part: reservation only, three course dinner for 50 people at $65, with reservations available at 7 & 7:30 pm. For reservations please subscribe to the New Langton Arts email list to get updates at: http://www.newlangtonarts.org/

– Second part: an open seating, no reservations, after the first seating starting around 8pm. We will serve Tapas style smaller plates at $5 each, available to anyone throughout the restaurant.

We encourage everyone to come by, dining or not, starting at 6:30pm. The bar will be open, serving beer, wine and non-alcoholic drinks plus plenty of extra seating in the bleachers all evening.

East Bay Pictures International, a Berkeley based production company, will be on hand to get some footage for their upcoming documentary on urban farming, Edible City.

photo by Novella Carpenter

OPENrestaurant’s new project, OPENcity, looks at the urban environment as a site for the production of food. Scheduled for Saturday, September 13, 2008 at New Langton Arts, we are planning a dinner made entirely of produce harvested, foraged or crafted within the Berkeley-Oakland-San Francisco perimeter. This event will be a way to showcase the many aspects in which the city produces food, from urban farming to foraging to community and private gardens. We hope to include a wide variety of practices so if you are a gleaner, gardener, forager, farmer or anyone involved in urban food production contact us at seed@openrestaurant.org.

You can participate by providing produce that we will purchase at market price or through a contribution to your organization, but of course any donation is welcome. More importantly we look forward to further forms of collaboration as a way to engage the audience about what you are doing. Let us know if you are interested in a more active participation and we will find a way to make it part of the event. There will also be large black boards with information as well as a map for locations.

This event will be an alternative and informal way for people involved in urban food issues to meet, exchange ideas and get exposure as well as experience the many flavors of the city and it is open to everyone.

The center of the meal is a ratatouille, a summer vegetable stew, which will be made from the largest amount of sources possible as to give a true flavor of the area, for the rest local chef will improvise with the large variety of produce collected.
We are looking for seasonal vegetables including PEPPER, TOMATO, EGGPLANT, ZUCCHINI, CUCUMBER, GREEN and SHELL BEANS, SALAD GREENS, ONIONS, HERBS, GREENS but also CHICKENS, EGGS, BUTTER, OIL; anything you would like to share is welcome since we are going to do a lot of improvisation.

OPEN will be part of a panel discussion at YBCA on sustainability: http://www.ybca.org/join/events.aspx and is collaborating with the Artist Jesse Schlesinger on ”SEED: proposal for a new branch of the San Francisco Public Library” a project at the Grove st Gallery of the SF Art Commission scheduled to open on Aug. 29. http://www.sfartscommission.org/home.html.

OPENsoil is Eli Berland, Art Berliner, Cannard Farm, Chez Panisse, Rachel Cole, Howie Correa, Knoll Farm, Devils Gulch Ranch, Catalan Farm, Suzanne Drexhage, DeeAnn Freitas, Angelo Garro, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Kelsie Kerr, Marian Lever, Carrie Lewis, Magnolia, Christa Manalo, Nico Monday, Amelia O’Reilly, Laura Parker, Alison Pebworth, Stacie Pierce, Ann Rich, Nate Rippey, Chris Sollars, Asiya Wadud, Jonathan Waters, Zack Wiley, Work of Art Catering. photos by Don Alderon.