From the Series
Kathryn White is a copywriter, novelist and food fan. With Jono Cane, she is behind The Mess experimental eating design experience that popped up in Johannesburg when you blinked.
Is food culture, diet or money more important?
Food culture, money and diet can all be controlled. But love. Love trumps them all. Love wins because people starve for love – it’s stronger than anything and more fun than drugs.
Can you design food culture? What would you include?
Exclude. I would definitely outlaw bad bread. We have an obesity problem here, which is basically a problem of poverty. If you think about this for more than one second it’s tragic. If someone is hungry and that loaf is their only loaf, then the bread companies should be legally obliged to create something nutritional, not injected-vitamin, starch-based, sweetened, salted, making-people-obese regurgitated cardboard. Bad bread pisses me off.
Can food create world peace?
There is no such thing as world peace. It’s not even vaguely doable. But, food can create family peace. Even if it is only for an hour at the table. Even if you have a sulking teenager at the table, an exhausted mother, a dad who would rather be watching the talking box, or any other of those end-of-the-day feelings. The simple act of “Pass the salt please”, and the communal moment of eating exactly the same combination of stuff, will bind the people at the table. When you are choosing your new family – be it friends, lovers or partners – I think that having the same food norms is really important.
