Ersatz : taste of the past

Abstract

What would happen when Earth can no longer feed all its inhabitants? The idea for Ersatz: Taste of the Past started with this simple question — a question that came naturally given the recent news of climate change concerns and the realisation of how this threatens food security. Defined in simple terms as the state of having access to sufficient food, food security is a basic and universal issue. Yet, few truly realise that it is under threat and whether we can still put food on the table in the future remains unknown. This project is a speculation about the worst-case scenario, where human race’s apathy and ignorance truly eliminated most, if not all, of the animals and plants we currently rely for our food. Thus by the end of the 21st century, eating waste has long become an accepted food source, especially since we have generated so much of it. With this scenario in mind, Ersatz: Taste of the Past is a digital cookbook that uses waste to recreate food eaten and documented by Singaporeans of the early 21st century. I constructed a fictional scenario in which these recreations were aided with food photos recovered from a defunct Instagram account that belonged to the author’s foodie millennial grandparent. Ultimately, this satirical take of the future aims to be a reminder of the very real food insecurity problem we are currently facing, in hope that we would never have to face this as actual reality.