DOOM FOOD

DOOM FOOD
Name	DOOM FOOD
Location	H&D Studio
Date	2026/07/20
Time	16:30—18:30
PeopleOrganisations	Ste Melissa
Type	HDSC2026
Web	Yes
Print	No

Do you remember that recipe reel you once stumbled across on Instagram during a late-night scroll, saved, and never looked at again? That moment — driven by a dopamine rush — is exactly where this workshop begins.

Through globalization and the viral spread of internet junk, recipes and the affective memories bonded to food culture have largely dissolved into a glamorized, homogenized imagery of gastronomy — one that rarely meets nutritional reality, respects cultural roots, or carries genuine meaning, but instead functions perfectly as short-term entertainment. Food culture today is consumed mostly through content, and it's hard to trace the paths of influence while immersed in a soup of likes and algorithms.

DOOM FOOD is a food design workshop that invites participants to look back at this video culture and collectively explore that gap between virtual fantasy and material reality, rewriting, reframing or retracing a selection of recipes drawn from these contents — whether it's stuffed tulips, Gatorade chicken, or plum tree ice cream.

Each participant is invited to bring up to three recipes found on a social network, or an ingredient they've found online that they're curious about. The goal of the workshop is to bring all these recipes together and inspire a whole menu from them. Alongside strangers from different feeds, and within the limits of a DIY kitchen environment, this activity lives in the tension between a fashionable food imaginary and material constraints — challenging practical skill, welcoming unexpected outcomes, and surfacing the nuances between collective and individual knowledge.

The techniques involved will vary depending on the collective's assets, the knowledge brought to the table, and above all, the willingness to discover new ways of making. The facilities allow for an average level of complexity, but technical and logistical solutions can be figured out along the way.

'Timeline

Part 1 — Introduction and brainstorming (~2 hours) on July 20!

An introduction to the workshop's intentions and methods, alongside sorting through the recipe archive collected by participants. This will be a moment to share personal experiences around food, cooking techniques, and opinions, while sketching a prep plan for the following meetings, defining the trajectory of the process, and deciding whether the fi nal outcome will be a snack, a dinner, a brunch, or something else.

INBETWEEN — Gathering ingredients (~2 hours) tbc when depending on pick up possibilities of rescued food!

Sourcing ingredients across Amsterdam's accessible resources — through foraging, dumpster diving, or selective buying. This doesn't need to be a fully collective process; it can be divided into groups or individual missions depending on needs and logistics. Recipes requiring a longer prep process can be managed individually during spare time.

Part 2 — Execution (3-6 hours, with three 15-minute breaks) on Wednesday 22!

The hands-on cooking session where the meals are prepared and the table is set:

• Setting up the kitchen space and working with the materials, following and exploring the recipes in small groups
• Experimenting with materials, combinations, and flavors, and troubleshooting unforeseen outcomes
• Plating the dishes and setting up where they'll be served — not necessarily a table, but potentially another format (e.g. served by hand, on the floor, or via another structure)

Access Note

• Although this is an open format where everyone is welcome to join the process with no obligation, a consistent commitment across both sessions is highly recommended to ensure the success of the final outcome.
• Anyone with allergies, intolerances, or specific dietary preferences must communicate this to the team in advance, to ensure safety and respect for everyone involved.

Bio Ste Melissa (they/she, b. 1999, Milan) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores the intersection of installation, sculpture, performance, and sound, often centering on edible materials.

Their food-based work stems from a deep desire to reclaim pleasure and identity-production systems, drawing on gastrophysics, internet culture, and affective memory. Through a world-building approach, the design and performativity of food is distorted, turning edible materials into a medium to rethink and experiment with togetherness in its most alluring and unsettling forms.

Currently based in Amsterdam, their work spans institutional and independent spaces, moving between nightlife, exhibitions, and kitchen pop-ups.