Building Intrigue Around Disgusting Food

For many years, Andres Ahrens, Director of the Disgusting Food Museum saw how food was used to increase otherness. Each of us, at some point, has accused the food of other cultures of being disgusting. Disgust is a feeling of extreme repulsion towards certain things. Of course, every culture has its own ‘disgusting’ food, we are just blind to the potential disgust of food we grew up with. Located in Malmö, the gastronomic capital of Sweden, Disgusting Food Museum is right across the bridge from Copenhagen, Denmark.

The making of an immersive experience

Our current meat production is terribly environmentally unsustainable, and we urgently need to start considering alternatives. The idea of eating algae, insects and lab-grown meat disgusts a lot of people. It all boils down to disgust. If we can change our notions of what food is disgusting or not, it could potentially help us transition to more sustainable protein sources. The museum helps visitors understand disgust and open their eyes to the world of food.

Most of the 80 exhibits are real food; some are replicas and a few are displayed as videos. Many of the real foods are “smellable”; and some of the foods (procured by Ahrens from all over the world)  are available for tasting. You can look at food, smell stinky foods, touch a bull penis and taste about 15 different kinds of food at the tasting bar. The visitors’ emotions are maximized by the carefully selected exhibit items. You will laugh, be upset, sad and angry.

Ahrens’ favourite installation is The Casu Marzu, Sardinian maggot cheese. Sheese flies lay eggs in an opened pecorino. The eggs hatch, maggots eat the cheese and poop out the cheese. One eats Casu Marzu with the still living, jumping maggots.

Ahrens worked on the museum along with best friend / curator Samuel West. They hoped it would attract attention, but didn’t anticipate this much. They lecture at universities; and organizers of food festivals invite them to share their experience.

This means using real food as much as possible rather than replicas. It was a challenge finding the real foods and everyday it takes a long time to set everything up. When asked what he would do differently, Ahrens admitted that they might have opened their second exhibit a bit too early. “It might have been better to learn from our experiences at the Malmö location for a few months before we opened in Los Angeles.”

He goes on to say, “Never forget to see the world through the eyes of other people. We are all the main character in the movie about our own life, but forget we are the villain in the eyes of some. Take a step back and reflect on the situations you are in, and how you are seen by others. This goes for the food we eat and the way we behave among others.” Ahrens and the team have recently launched a brand new temporary exhibit featuring disgusting alcohol.

Immersive Food Experiences – An exploration of the food-inspired experiential pop-up phenomenon across the globe.  If you own, operate or have experienced an immersive space of food – let us know! Tell us about your experience at info@sugarandspace.in