Culinary Experience of Dutch Cultivated Tomatoes

↗ Social designer, food enthusiast, bitter reclaimer and researcher working at the intersection of food, ecology, and social practices. My work explores how sensory experiences (especially taste) can reconnect us to what has been bred out, forgotten, or overlooked. Through foraging, craft and collaboration I create tools, tastings and narratives to invite new ways of relating to food, the natural world and lost knowledge.

Culinary Experience of Dutch Cultivated Tomatoes

Oct - Nov 2023

A multisensory culinary experience, exploring two cultivation methods of tomatoes in the Netherlands (one shaped by technological precision, the other by regenerative soil-based farming) and how this translates into a tasting experience.

What is the story of your tomato, produced in the Netherlands, that’s sitting on your plate? This tasting experience is not just about the flavors on your plate, but a journey into the complex interplay of technology, cultivation, nature, modification and the choices we make about our food.

Dish 1 — "Hydro-Tomato, Better Than Nature”
Grown in a hydroponic glasshouse on rockwool substrate, under artificial light and in a tightly controlled environment. Presented on a 3D-printed plate with an integrated hydroponic system, accompanied by plastic gloves, a sterile tablecloth and a pink grow light to resemble the industrialised, high-tech ecosystem behind the crop.

Dish 2 — “Earthen Delight, Nurtured with Soil from Dongen”
Made from organic tomatoes grown in living soil at NatuurTomaat, a family farm practising regenerative agriculture. Served as a shared plate with tomato soup on a base of soil, surrounded by spoons, with rainwater to wash hands. Introducing the farm’s biodiversity and ecological approach.

Together, these dishes show the different ecologies and technologies that shape our food.
The multisensory food experience invites reflection on how production methods influence not only flavour, but also the ethics, labour and environmental impact embedded in what we eat.

→ food systems, multisensory tasting, agriculture, hydroponics, regenerative farming, ecological design, culinary storytelling

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