Tuesday 1 February 2011

Food Diaries

The youngest is keeping a food diary for school. Under ‘Snacks’ she meticulously records every crisp and mouthful of chocolate, but fails to mention the salad I put on her dinner plate. We must look like Really Bad Parents.
Today, I ate toast and home-made marmalade for breakfast, egg and bacon for lunch (as I write), while this afternoon I’ll be slow-cooking a casserole of onion, garlic, carrots, leeks and lamb, to serve with baked potatoes and kale.
However, the most impressive food diaries are visual. Eat 22 is a film by artist Ellie Harrison. It’s a record of everything she ate for a year (11 March 2001 – 11 March 2002, when she was 22). I have seen this hypnotic and thought-provoking film a couple of times in gallery situations - it’s currently on permanent display in the Wellcome Collection Museum in London.

The Australian artist Patrick Boland has also photographed everything he ate in one year:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickboland/492414619/

Further information on Ellie Harrison: http://www.ellieharrison.com/

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