BASTARD COOKBOOK: RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA & ANTTO MELASNIEMI
edited BY LOLA KRAMER
garrett publications and the finnish cultural institute, new york
published June 1, 2019
In Spring of 2019, The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York will publish the Bastard Cookbook, edited by independent curator and writer Lola Kramer, with recipes by internationally renowned artist Rirkrit Tiravanija (Buenos Aires, AR/ Bangkok, Thailand) and chef Antto Melasniemi (Helsinki, Finland). Originating from a shared appreciation for breaking the rules––the Bastard Cookbook is less of a “coffee table cookbook” and more of a manifesto for multiculturalism in disguise. The book is a collaged collection of texts, exhortations, culinary scenarios and -- above all -- food to liberate the modern gourmand from essentialism. Images of the dishes, their ingredients and preparation, as well as the chef's’ travels in bastard cooking, illustrate over forty preposterous recipes. It is a cosmopolitan worldview baked at *375 Fahrenheit and topped with curry powder. This “odd couple” offer what one could refer to as an “adulterated” fare to its purist counterpart. This collaborative exploration into the realms of food and multiculturalism encourages seeing eye to eye with strangers and proposes that perhaps, the key to appreciating the idiosyncrasies of an unfamiliar culture, is through the hybridized form.
Tiravanija and Melasniemi have collaborated in kitchens together since 2011: at institutions in Basel, Venice, Stockholm, Manilla, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and elsewhere––it was when they were first introduced to strangers as the “bastard brothers,” that a more complete vision came together. This collection of recipes are not exclusively Thai or Finnish but originate from their individual life experiences, their kinship— and mutual appreciation for experimentation, improvisation, and interpretation. The bastards are non-essentialist: “If you can’t find one of the ingredients for a recipe, just bastardize the hell out of it,” instructs Tiravanija. In dishes like the pad Thai macaroni, or the curry pizza, a hybrid of two classics, made by the pair the first time they cooked together at Tonson Gallery in Bangkok, or the curried Swedish meatballs, a traditional Swedish dish, spiced with red curry powder, originally made by Tiravanija as part of an artwork originally made in 1994––the pair unabashedly smash the East into the West. Through a careful selection of hybrid recipes, this book hopes to remind us that perhaps the ultimate power of cooking, is its ability to bring individuals who have completely different life experiences, together. — Lola Kramer
Photography: Janne Tuunanen.
