Where are the flavourful Spanish tomatoes? On the search for one of Spain’s staple foods, the project "A Bite of Extinction” focuses on the alarming decline of food diversity and the loss of culinary memory, with a specific focus on the Madrid region. It analyses the current globalised food landscape and the tendencies of homogenisation in both cultural preferences and agricultural choices. Scientific research suggests biodiversity to be one of the key aspects to strengthen our current food system. At the same time, national culinary memory is lost as ingredients keep disappearing, just as the population that used to grow and prepare them.
In an attempt to link the different players in the food industry - scientists, farmers, cooks and consumers - the project aims to use design to inspire action, exchange and awareness. For this the project proposes a rehabilitation of an existing space, the old Fruit and Vegetable Market of Legazpi, into a place of encounter and neighbourly spirit that will reconnect people with local produce and its flavours, introduce them to the world of agricultural research and labour and rejuvenate the Spanish food system.
