Werner Linster's Sushi Lectures are about presenting snippets from literature, philosophy radio content, art and more which inspire him as an artist, teacher and game developer.

Our VITAL FORCES team developed a meaningful eatable intervention, his menu freely interpreted.  Hearing about Beckett's doodles, we served white fish burgers, Beckett's favorite food. We learned that  boiled potatoes work most wonderful for carving signs (here 'Gaunerzinken') into them and filling them with most delicious herbal pesto. Inés performed, creating cheese balls on sticks rolled in various spices to create sweet and spicy flavors and jammed a candy cane with a hammer, to underline a more dramatic moment of a sound/speech piece.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LUCY!

Lucy goes to Berlin! Congratulations to Canadian artist Patrica Coates for receiving the  Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council awards: An International residency allows Lucy to venture to Berlin this summer via transatlantic migration. “Project Seed Vault” (random mutation) will explore transgenic, invasive and threatened species along with a whole bunch of flora and fauna specimens and 'madlab' paraphernalia raising questions of the potential repercussions of tampering with biological evolution.

And we will assist. Stay tuned!

SUPPORT OUR FIRST BOOK about food culture as a cultural good in the past, present and future !

The results of our first year’s think tank VITAL FORCES – FOOD IN CONTEXT want to go into print!

With delicious photo documentation and eye opening contributions by artists, authors and scientists, this full color, about 40 pages, magazine will summarize our year long research.

SATELLITE BERLIN/ VITAL FORCES – FOOD IN CONTEXT invited to an open table talk discussion with guest experts Dr. Arndt Pechstein and Timo Kaphengst. Using the game idea of 'Memory' as a point of departure for discussion, we tackled our third think tank chapter NATURE AND RESOURCES: EARTH, WATER, FIRE AND AIR. During this lively evening, teams defined associations and problems and found solutions for the absurd cycles of modern food production, non-transparent processes in agriculture and food industry. Due to their extensive work experience, our guest speakers provided their knowledge of facts and on-going related research, as well as illuminate the interrelationship of the fields involved.

While enjoying a zero-kilometer-stew (= hearty winter stew with all regional organic ingredients straight from the farmers market), this was another successful table talk format, using the communal table for a non-hierarchical discussion.

While hot debates on climatechange are on at the UNclimatechangeconference COP23 in Bonn these days, we are starting at a practical level which is not only efficent (in many ways) but also delicious and fun.

May we introduce our menuforchange to you:

1. Roasted beetroot, onion and garlic mousse on a hazelnut oat buckwheat crisp bread, topped with real arugula (tastes much spicier and more intense than the ususal supermarket version!!) and borage.

2. Tilapia fish from an aquaponic project in Berlin where I had to help cutting the fish and make my own filets marinated with homemade buckwheat koji (mimi ferments) , savoy cabbage cooked with local white wine (Scheurebe) along with heirloom turnips with apples in browned butter.

3. caramelized camut pudding, apples sauce, very young goat cheese and dried flowers.

What is that a MENU FOR CHANGE you may ask yourselves..?
Well, while eating local and eating seasonal, supporting small scale farmers, eating heirloom vegetables and other forgotten food you are supporting those people who are activly involved in preventingclimatechange : those FARMERS, who farm with traditional methods and grow in a sustainable manner, working with nature  shop at your farmersmarket !!

And we show you, how you can make a pretty delicious menu out of winter and maybe dull sounding ingredients.

So, put on that apron and chop them up, those yummy cabbages and roots!
Images by talented Nora Novak

VITAL FORCES invites:
3. November 17, 7pm

COMPLEX ABSURDITIES

Table talk with

DR. ARNDT PECHSTEIN
and
TIMO KAPHENGST

Location:
Diderot
Raabestr. 1, Berlin

Tickets on sale now

Werner Linster, a prolific and constant drawing artist and keen observer, loves to turn things up side down.  Here a sneak peak of what the results of his art intervention on our wild plant excursion in summer looks like.

how much fun we had, riding on our bikes through Kreuzberg, following speedy Magda, who knows all the secret spots of wild eatables. Again we were amazed, how much there is, and that food to be believed exotic and foreign, can acutally grow in our back urban yard! Here the first impressions...

Wow! What a treat that was.  Mrs. Westphal is a walking dictionary and so enthusiastic about wild herbs, their healing effects and wonderful (and interesting) tastes. We learned about over 38 plants. Artist Werner Linster documented for his 'art Intervention' and we are thrilled to see the results soon.  But here the first impressions from Nora.

Tales of Taste, a concept dinner created by Inés Lauber, was hosted by SATELLITE BERLIN as part of our think tank and matching the current topic: FORGOTTEN TASTE. Here are some impressions photo documented by our wonderful Nora Novak.

In this new chapter, we are exploring how day-to day groceries were and are used as life supporting and healing foods, how a lot of them disappeared from our menu and are now re-discovered along with the knowledge. "Weeds" were plants used for eating and healing, and when you get to know their appearance, you suddenly see so much more forests and grasslands.
 
What was the ecological significance of wild plants and herbs, in the history of medicine and science, or in our own kitchens or cultivated convent gardens? Connecting the topic with art, literature, philosophy or poetry, VITAL FORCES explores.

Great events and dinners to sign up for. Stay tuned!

This cold spring weather is perfect for tasting a selection of warming, delicious black, green or fruit teas. Come to our Tea Time Talk, this Sunday at 5 pm at Diderot, introducing the amazing art by Kristiane Kegelmann.

here some responses, we are flattered!

"...that was a great experience and a delightful meal.  It’s the best German food I have ever eaten, and way better than anything served in the San Francisco German restaurants that were still here when I was a child.  You and Inés are clearly passionate cooks with strong philosophy behind what you do in the kitchen.  It is true that what we eat and how we eat shapes so much of our world."

"...Everything was so perfect from the absolutely delicious food and the very interesting educational talk to your creativity and personal connection to the work you are doing with Satelliteberllin.  I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and I have such nice memories of that special evening."

"Thanks again for putting on the dinner! That was great. Good food and some nice, interesting folks. All the dishes were delicious and artfully prepared, and really showed the work you put in to them."

Thank you to Michelle Graham Tardivet for providing the images of her family.

Lot's of wonderful stories about how German food influenced American cuisine and amazed how what is called "authentic German" doesn't seem authentic at all.  Certain traditional recipes seem to be untouchable for the original culture, but may get completly changes around somewhere else (and often are improved!).  It's like I dared to cook a turkey far removed from an original Amercian way. The variations of for example Pickeled Herring,- or Potatoe Salads are in the hundredfold...

Off to the search for good German wines in San Francisco.

Our first table talk event featured science journalist Dr. Hellmuth Nordwig and program director of CFL Anna Küfner as guest speakers.  We discussed German food culture in it's past, present and future. A vibrant talk, that hardly found an end. Looking forward to more evenings like this !

birth
growth
death
birth
growth
death
birth
and so on
since infinite time,
elements are combined
and transformed in
this sequence.
Circular.
Inscribing a circle in a
square,
you can do it but
even there
it will keep on making its revolution.
As white keys
milk jugs
compose
the three totemic words
of the
“universal keyboard”.

Love, Alessandro from Rome

January 26, 7 pm

Speaking guests: 

Hellmuth Nordwig, (Dipl., Dr. rer. nat.),
Science Journalist and Chemist

and

Anna Küfner, Curator and Director of the Contemporary Food Lab, Berlin.

Inés lauber and Kit Schulte, Moderators
SATELLITE BERLIN

After a successful Kick-off event for Satellite's new module, we are starting with our first table talk* in January 2017.  The topic for the first quarter of the year is Food Culture Through the Ages.

*Our table talks are a discussion series engaging the audience to not only listen but participate actively. Experts, moderators and audience are interacting sitting at one table, initiating a non-hierarchical and active conversation.

A good glass of wine and some bites to eat are of course part of the event to emphasize the communal aspect of food.

This event will take place at our cooperation partner DIDEROT, Raabestraße 1, 10405 Berlin

The event will be held in German.

...we get to infuse with all kinds of fun eatables and aroma giving spices. For our event - don't miss it.