In 2007, we mapped Los Angeles, its farmers markets and our favorite food haunts. And we mapped our meal, from California farms, to local farmers markets, and across the room from basket to skillet.
There was an index card pinned to the map for each ingredient, showing a photo of the farmer, a list of the markets where they sell their produce, and then a line from the card to the location of their farm on the map.
Working with Felix Jacques Frey’s idea that the metropolis contains villages that take the form of traveled networks with specific nodes, we also put a huge map of LA on the wall and invited guests to add pins. Each guest received a unique color-coded set of pins along with tags on which they could write the name and description of their favorite foods in the city. Of course people wanted to discover one another’s favorite treats. When these conversations happen in front of the map, all kinds of discoveries emerge – history, geography, community, memory.
