A Movable Feast

June 28, 2016 4:42 PM

Artist Minsu Kim uses synthetic biology to create food that wiggles, waves, and pulsates on the plate.
posted by merriment (33 comments total)

nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:48 PM on June 28, 2016 [13 favorites]

yes but can you use the "bones" to make a firearm?
posted by indubitable at 4:54 PM on June 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

This is star wars style 'alien' food... science fact meets science fiction
posted by vs at 5:03 PM on June 28, 2016

If we took the bones out, it wouldn't be crunchy, would it?
posted by little onion at 5:09 PM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

These dishes struck me as both enticing and repulsive, and imagining eating them gave me a bit of a thrill (a safe one, since I didn't have to confront the prospect of actually eating something living). I'm certainly intrigued by the promise of a completely novel eating experience.
posted by merriment at 5:18 PM on June 28, 2016

"What if food was able to play with our cutlery and create hyper-sensations in our mouth?"

I'm pretty sure humans invented fire specifically to prevent this from happening.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:26 PM on June 28, 2016 [21 favorites]

[deep breath]

So this food, it pulsates?
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:27 PM on June 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

What's so strange about that? Gagh is best served live.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:36 PM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

"My dessert begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug ..."
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:47 PM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

The artist's own site.
posted by GuyZero at 5:49 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

That is not what synthetic biology is.
posted by biogeo at 5:56 PM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I once had some kind of clam sashimi that squirmed on the plate.
posted by Jode at 6:06 PM on June 28, 2016

I did this too but it was just pantry moth larvae when I went to make rice and then I almost threw up and we had to throw out everything and clean the entire kitchen and pantry with bleach.

That's my artist statement.
posted by bondcliff at 6:06 PM on June 28, 2016 [10 favorites]

Guys, come on. This is totally adorable. It's like a crouton-petter's dream. In the video, each of the dishes has a clear personality. The twerky worm is inappropriate yet cute, the spidery thing is a little neurotic, and the sphere just kind of sighs with exasperation every now and then. I want to hug this food.
posted by Atrahasis at 6:46 PM on June 28, 2016 [8 favorites]

Not appetizing.
Nope. Not at all.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:46 PM on June 28, 2016

That is not what synthetic biology is.

That'll be news to the Synthetic Biology Conference at Imperial College London, which featured this in their Synthetic Biotech Design Showcase in 2013.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:52 PM on June 28, 2016 [8 favorites]

MOON STONE was used on RICE KRISPIES.
What?
RICE KRISPIES is evolving!
posted by oulipian at 7:07 PM on June 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

I don't like it, but I like it.
posted by latkes at 7:22 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Try as I might, and yes I read the article and followed up a couple of the source links as well, I cannot for the life of me deduce what the actual fuck this is.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 7:49 PM on June 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I fully expect to go to Alinea one of these days and have the final course present me with the check.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:21 PM on June 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

This is going to break Smorgasburg.
posted by STFUDonnie at 9:36 PM on June 28, 2016

This is weird and cool but I wish I had the slightest clue whatsoever what I was looking at. "[Kim] charged organic compounds present in the dish with energy" is not exactly illuminating. *grump grump grump*
posted by quaking fajita at 9:58 PM on June 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yeah, and as described there's also nothing really "bio" about organic compounds "charged... with energy." I looked up that Synthetic Biology conference and I can't find his name anywhere, nor can I find a reference to a "Design Showcase." Sometimes there are art-of-science type exhibitions at the conference, so maybe that's what that refers to -- that would make more sense since the point of those is more to be thought-provoking and to fit with the general theme (and to look cool, of course). But yeah, based on the information in this article I'm having a hard time seeing why this would qualify as synthetic biology.
posted by en forme de poire at 10:43 PM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

The video is all CGI, right?
posted by books for weapons at 11:02 PM on June 28, 2016

me: Hey this guy made food that moves like it's alive! Wanna see it?
mr hgg: Sure, sounds interesting
*shows mr hgg the video of the translucent worm thing*
mr hgg: OH CHRIST NO
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:32 PM on June 28, 2016

These are mechanical. It's art.
posted by cromagnon at 12:22 AM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Coming soon; beans that over-think themselves.
posted by Segundus at 12:31 AM on June 29, 2016 [5 favorites]

The artist's gender appears to be in doubt, a bit...one article says he and one says she. Hmm.
posted by merriment at 5:47 AM on June 29, 2016

What if food were consumed alive, as a fictional character?

'TO BE?? ...or...NOT to be. *sighhh* That is the question.'
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 5:58 AM on June 29, 2016

Ran out of time on the edit window, bah. The Wired article that cromagnon links to uses male pronouns. This Garakami article uses female pronouns, which confused me. However, the artist does appear to be a man. Carry on!
posted by merriment at 6:01 AM on June 29, 2016

Does... It actually matter what gender this artist is?
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:36 AM on June 29, 2016

Reminds me of when I was in Brooklyn a few years ago and ordered okonomiyaki from a stall in Smorgasburg. It was well-made, but I asked for bonito flakes the chef said she had to stop serving them - the way the shavings danced in the heat caused their customers to freak out because they thought the food was alive.
posted by Gortuk at 7:30 AM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Does... It actually matter what gender this artist is?

Lots of people don't like being misgendered. I get annoyed whenever someone assumes I'm a man because of the topic I'm writing about, for example.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:36 AM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]