De Maag als Kompas

De Maag als Kompas (the Stomach Compass), a convivium to get one’s bearings in the gastrographic north of Amsterdam. As part of the exhibition Noord, Wietske Maas set out to explore the hidden food topologies of Amsterdam Noord, sourcing all ingredients from urban interstices where vegetal life flourishes. The resulting menu was an experiment into what some of the archetypal future dishes of Amsterdam Noord could be.

9 October 2010, 50 guests oriented their appetites for an experimental dinner in Mediamatic bank.  The recipes were composed by Wietske together with the culinary savoir faire of Sander Overeinder and Benny Trapp of restaurant As. The nucleus of the dinner was a snail porridge  made with snails collected in allotment gardens and purified in Nature Vivant sidewalk snail farm. As the evening unfurled, anecdotes about the ingredients were revealed against the gentle gnashing sounds of snails eating, the cooks cooking and our appetites orientating due north.

Special sparks of gratitude to Claud, Cocky, Theun and Lars who helped with the collection and hacking of ingredients into the moonlit hours, to Arthur Kerckhaert for all snail farming advice, and to Sebastiaan, Eva, Meral, Ingun and many others of Mediamatic who have become complicit snail lovers in the process.

I. Land Tongue Aperitif

Hawthron bellini with malva flower. Puréed hawthorn berries mixed with Noord late summer honey and a mucilagous malva flower.

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II. Belly of the Snail Starter

Composition of earthy-sweet autumnal roots and bitter leaves loved equally by snails in their own Noord habitat: pastinak, cow parsely, beetroot, endive, blanketed with a crumbly coating of Dikhoeve sheep cheese, a fiesty pesto of bitter but succulent garlic mustard, adorned with flourescent evening primrose flowers.

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III. Magnetic Main: Snail porridge

Porridge based on a soffritto, oats, wine and snails pre-cooked in a bouillon of herb bennett roots. The porridge was served on a bed of fennel and sautéed deadnettle and mugwort. The snails had been fed on a diet of wild fennel and beetroot to give them an extra herbaceous élan.

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IV. Apple Eye of Noord in Lake of Carrot Custard

Early stewing apples filled with finely ground acorn-shaped wild hazelnuts, rosehips and Noord honey served in a lake of wild carrot seed custard (custard was flavored with a maceration of wild carrot seeds)