Recipe by Design 2018 | Maja Jandrić Design

Recipe by Design,

MEDS workshop

Recipe by Design is a team project that took place in Byblos, Lebanon as part of MEDS workshop 2018. Meetings of Design Students – MEDS is an international association created in 2010 by and for students and young professionals from various creative disciplines. Each year, MEDS is hosted in a different country, with an average of 200

participants. Our main aim is to spread its ideal across the world. Particularly found in public spaces, the concept chosen for MEDS 2018, in Byblos – Jbeil, aimed to help the global and local community find solutions for their common problematic. In fact, we merged our know-how to find how to create urban public spaces in this ancient city.

In this particular workshop it was the Amchit camping site. We created an outdoor kitchen based on eco building principles and local materials, designed to encourage zero food waste and to be free for anyone to use, as a common good.

The purpose of the workshop was to teach the design process to a community through a cultural paradigm — food! To do this we tackled a relatable environment and design problem in Lebanon — food waste. This workshop created a way to collect, store and process food waste into edible recipes and nutritious compost to produce more sustainable food. Through this process we created an eco cooking unit including all parts of the food process. The kitchen illustrates the linear cooking process and divides it into four basic steps: storing, washing, preparing (and separating the waste) and cooking. It shows the beauty of using all the resources and encourages people not to waste anything. That includes the no electricity "fridge" made out of two clay pots, bigger and smaller, filled with wet

sand to keep the temperature low and

preserve the food temporarily, a sink cast in concrete worktop with a water tank above to show how much water is used, cutting board with a food waste separation basket for composting, and finally a clay pot oven for cooking. A driving force for the design was finding a way to create something new without using ‘new’ materials. We found it challenging to source local materials, or recycled materials to then upcycle for our project. In the end we had to compromise on some pieces due to our lack of resources and timing but made up for it in other areas.

Beyond the design and the process, we thought about the ethics of food and how the food source itself becomes an ethical dilemma, which then branches out to the food preparation and ultimately, food waste.

Though we couldn't speak to exactly where the food is coming from all the time, we were able to prepare a meal with the locals from the campsite who had caught fresh fish and grilled it on our grill! We also took action to tackle issues like waste through contacting a local organization that makes edible plates and compostable and recyclable utensils – Eat a Plate. We gladly promoted them because products like these help to mediate the impact we impose on the environment.

Even though there were lots of obstacles, we are satisfied with the outcome. This workshop explored cultural differences, tackled food waste problem and shown participants and local people a way to live more sustainable. It had a big social aspect because it now works as a gathering point where local people meet and interact.