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| potf:tasting_tomorrow_scenarios [2017-05-09 17:51] – [EcoIkeaWorld canteen] nik | potf:tasting_tomorrow_scenarios [2017-05-11 12:39] (current) – nik |
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| Street markets have been lifted off the ground. They can be found on green roofs and in hanging gardens, freeing the street for urban picnics and frequent food-laden festivities. People zipline between stalls and eateries. Not only food culture has its renaissance. Local design is booming, with a focus on stylish, ethical and affordable fashion and kitchen "gear". Jump-suits with built-in zipline connectors are popular, as well as providing ample pockets for crockery and cutlery. The buzz of conversation and woosh of people zipping past complements the hum of honeybees during day and delivery drones at night. Maltese food culture is a continuous, joyous celebration. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. | Street markets have been lifted off the ground. They can be found on green roofs and in hanging gardens, freeing the street for urban picnics and frequent food-laden festivities. People zipline between stalls and eateries. Not only food culture has its renaissance. Local design is booming, with a focus on stylish, ethical and affordable fashion and kitchen "gear". Jump-suits with built-in zipline connectors are popular, as well as providing ample pockets for crockery and cutlery. The buzz of conversation and woosh of people zipping past complements the hum of honeybees during day and delivery drones at night. Maltese food culture is a continuous, joyous celebration. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. |
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| ==== Wake for the Rain ==== | ==== Wake for the Rain ==== |
| After fifty years, the nation-wide water research programme was successful enough that there was no further need for restrictions. The reverence of water became so widespread that it transformed into an egalitarian, polytheistic religion populated by such divinities as gods of rain, flood, mist and the sea. While most of society returned to a more abundant cuisine after about a century, their religion was a constant reminder of the precarious situation of living on an island with limited sources of good-quality fresh water. Their seasonal rituals are centered around first and last rains of the year. One of the main religious celebrations is the Wake for the Rain, held during the last rains of spring. It is both a remembrance of the seasonal descent of their ancestors into the underground caves (to preserve water and avoid perspiration) and the commencement of the summer-siesta, a several month-long slowing down of all processes in Maltese society. During the wake, worshipers consume traditional ingredients including cacti, olives and products made with goat milk. Mezcal is drunk in abundance, while water is served in tiny glasses. During summer people spend time in spiritual retreats and bathing rituals. Water, and by extension bodily fluids are considered to be a collective resource, held in communal trust and shared. Stillsuits (c.f. Dune) are not strictly necessary any longer, but still worn for religious and formal gatherings. Children learn techniques to reduce their heart-beat, slow their metabolism and reduce sweat. The priests spend summer months in prayer for the continued rains of winter. In the shadows of their cool meditation caves they consume mezcal as a sacrament (or mescaline in some rituals). It is said that when their minds become as liquid as the gods they worship, waters will return to soak the parched soil of the island... | After fifty years, the nation-wide water research programme was successful enough that there was no further need for restrictions. The reverence of water became so widespread that it transformed into an egalitarian, polytheistic religion populated by such divinities as gods of rain, flood, mist and the sea. While most of society returned to a more abundant cuisine after about a century, their religion was a constant reminder of the precarious situation of living on an island with limited sources of good-quality fresh water. Their seasonal rituals are centered around first and last rains of the year. One of the main religious celebrations is the Wake for the Rain, held during the last rains of spring. It is both a remembrance of the seasonal descent of their ancestors into the underground caves (to preserve water and avoid perspiration) and the commencement of the summer-siesta, a several month-long slowing down of all processes in Maltese society. During the wake, worshipers consume traditional ingredients including cacti, olives and products made with goat milk. Mezcal is drunk in abundance, while water is served in tiny glasses. During summer people spend time in spiritual retreats and bathing rituals. Water, and by extension bodily fluids are considered to be a collective resource, held in communal trust and shared. Stillsuits (c.f. Dune) are not strictly necessary any longer, but still worn for religious and formal gatherings. Children learn techniques to reduce their heart-beat, slow their metabolism and reduce sweat. The priests spend summer months in prayer for the continued rains of winter. In the shadows of their cool meditation caves they consume mezcal as a sacrament (or mescaline in some rituals). It is said that when their minds become as liquid as the gods they worship, waters will return to soak the parched soil of the island... |
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| ==== Pirate potluck ==== | ==== Pirate potluck ==== |
| As creative as the inhabitants were with their scarce resources, the population rapidly declined. Through malnutrition, emigration and the mass exodus of tourists (and rumours of cannibalism), Malta became thinly populated. While there wasn't enough manpower to farm the depleted land or fish in the emptying seas, the Maltese embraced their corsair roots. Their anarcho-pirate fleet was loosely run by a hacker collective with access to global shipping infrastructure and abandoned ships were quietly repurposed into piracy and raiding parties. Their open resources and motley spoils were distributed throughout the population. Everyone was gradually, yet unpredictably, becoming richer through piracy. The culture became one of feast and famine. The cuisine was resilient and adaptable to unpredictable conditions. Sometimes exploding with complex ingredients and extravagant spices, other times it would consist of a single ingredient only. As the centuries passed, the descendants of pirates began celebrating this time as the formative period of their culture. Tough times that forged tough people. As the culture became less rough, more prosperous and sophisticated, fetishising the wild past became inevitable. The yearly Pirate Potluck celebrates a time when piracy was central to the economy of Malta. At this island-wide festa, everyone brings ingredients cooked up in many large pots, blending almost anything into unrecognisable stews, spiced up with grated dried meat, fish flakes, seaweed, pickles and soy-based taste intensifiers. For the Maltese the potluck festa reminds them that without sharing there is no survival, while taste remains unpredictable. | As creative as the inhabitants were with their scarce resources, the population rapidly declined. Through malnutrition, emigration and the mass exodus of tourists (and rumours of cannibalism), Malta became thinly populated. While there wasn't enough manpower to farm the depleted land or fish in the emptying seas, the Maltese embraced their corsair roots. Their anarcho-pirate fleet was loosely run by a hacker collective with access to global shipping infrastructure and abandoned ships were quietly repurposed into piracy and raiding parties. Their open resources and motley spoils were distributed throughout the population. Everyone was gradually, yet unpredictably, becoming richer through piracy. The culture became one of feast and famine. The cuisine was resilient and adaptable to unpredictable conditions. Sometimes exploding with complex ingredients and extravagant spices, other times it would consist of a single ingredient only. As the centuries passed, the descendants of pirates began celebrating this time as the formative period of their culture. Tough times that forged tough people. As the culture became less rough, more prosperous and sophisticated, fetishising the wild past became inevitable. The yearly Pirate Potluck celebrates a time when piracy was central to the economy of Malta. At this island-wide festa, everyone brings ingredients cooked up in many large pots, blending almost anything into unrecognisable stews, spiced up with grated dried meat, fish flakes, seaweed, pickles and soy-based taste intensifiers. For the Maltese the potluck festa reminds them that without sharing there is no survival, while taste remains unpredictable. |
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| ==== EcoIkeaWorld canteen ==== | ==== EcoIkeaWorld canteen ==== |
| On the other side of the gates live the Eco-hipsters, a melting pot of impoverished young farmers and former service-industry workers. Their communities are quirky, imperfect and unstable but very much alive. A stark contrast to the EcoIkeaWorld. Whereas the elderly meticulously plan every minute of their lives, the young surrender to a more heuristic lifestyle. They live among the organic rubbish dumps of the EcoIkeaWorld and produce high quality organic compost (often sold back to IKEA for a decent profit). Scarcity has forced Eco-hipsters to become an inventive, entrepreneurial bunch. Aside from their lucrative compost business, a high-quality carob chocolate-substitute is manufactured and traded around the world through the Sail Cargo Alliance. With their knowledge of fermentation new lines of yeast-based drugs have been developed, which they smuggle into EcoIkeaWorld. The effects of yeast-drugs on the elderly wreak statistical havoc in IKEA's pristine health-data centres. Slowly but surely, pleasure is trafficked back into Eco-Gozo, with unknown long-term side-effects. | On the other side of the gates live the Eco-hipsters, a melting pot of impoverished young farmers and former service-industry workers. Their communities are quirky, imperfect and unstable but very much alive. A stark contrast to the EcoIkeaWorld. Whereas the elderly meticulously plan every minute of their lives, the young surrender to a more heuristic lifestyle. They live among the organic rubbish dumps of the EcoIkeaWorld and produce high quality organic compost (often sold back to IKEA for a decent profit). Scarcity has forced Eco-hipsters to become an inventive, entrepreneurial bunch. Aside from their lucrative compost business, a high-quality carob chocolate-substitute is manufactured and traded around the world through the Sail Cargo Alliance. With their knowledge of fermentation new lines of yeast-based drugs have been developed, which they smuggle into EcoIkeaWorld. The effects of yeast-drugs on the elderly wreak statistical havoc in IKEA's pristine health-data centres. Slowly but surely, pleasure is trafficked back into Eco-Gozo, with unknown long-term side-effects. |
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nik