Futurist cooking facts for kids

Futurist meals were a special way of eating and dining created by a group of artists and thinkers called the Futurist movement, mostly in Italy. These unique meals were first suggested in a paper called Manifesto of Futurist Cooking. It was written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Luigi Colombo Fillia. This paper was published in a newspaper called Gazzetta del Popolo on December 28, 1930. Later, in 1932, Marinetti and Fillìa wrote a whole book about these ideas, called The Futurist Cookbook.

What Were Futurist Meals?

Marinetti believed that to make Italian art truly free, people needed to change how they thought and acted. He felt that cooking and eating were very important because people "think, dream and act according to what they eat and drink." So, Futurist cooking aimed to mix food with art. It turned dining into a kind of performance or show.

New Ideas for Eating

The Futurists wanted to challenge old ways of doing things. One of their most surprising ideas was to say no to pasta. They thought pasta made people feel tired, sad, and less energetic. They believed getting rid of pasta would help make Italians stronger, especially for war. Historian Carol Helstosky explained that this idea aimed to change Italians from just eating pasta to becoming modern, active citizens. It also helped Italy rely less on wheat from other countries. This idea fit with Benito Mussolini's "Battle for Wheat," which started in 1925 to make Italy more self-sufficient in food.

Futurists also believed that perfect meals needed two things:

• Originality: Everything had to be new and different.
• Harmony: All parts of the meal, from the plates to the food's look and taste, had to work well together.

Marinetti also loved the idea of sculpted foods. These were dishes, especially meats, that looked amazing and sparked the imagination. For example, artist Enrico Prampolini made an edible sculpture called "Equator + North Pole." It was a cone of whipped egg whites that looked like a snowy peak. It had orange slices like sun rays, sitting on a "sea" of poached egg yolks.

In Futurist cooking, you wouldn't use a knife and fork. Instead, they even added perfumes to make the tasting experience better!

How Meals Were Served

The Manifesto of Futurist Cooking suggested big changes to how meals were served:

• Some food on the table was just for looking at and smelling, not for eating.
• Food would arrive quickly. It would have many flavors but only be a few bites big.
• No political talks or speeches were allowed during the meal.
• Music and poetry were forbidden, except at special times.

One wild idea for these "perfect meals" involved eating in a fake airplane. The vibrations from the "engines" would make you hungrier. Tilted seats and tables would "shake out" your old ideas. Your taste buds would be amazed by very unusual dishes listed on aluminium cards.

Science in the Kitchen

Futurists wanted to replace regular kitchen tools with scientific equipment. This brought modern science into cooking. Some suggested tools included:

• Ozonizers: To make food smell like ozone.
• Ultraviolet ray lamps: To boost vitamins and other good things in food.
• Electrolyzers: To break down foods into new forms.
• Colloidal mills: To grind any food item into a fine powder.
• Autoclaves, dialyzers, stills: To cook food without losing vitamins.
• Chemical indicators: To help the cook know if sauces needed more salt, sugar, or vinegar.

Futurism and Fascism

By the time Marinetti published La Cucina Futurista in 1932, the Futurist movement and Fascism had some differences. Futurists wanted new ways of cooking and exciting all your senses. Fascism, however, wanted to promote classic "Italian" food to unite the country. Futurist cooking focused on how food looked and how it felt to eat, often trying to shock people. For example, they used "food sculptures and seemingly odd food pairings (meat and cologne or mussels and vanilla creme)."

The anti-pasta campaign and strange recipes in La Cucina Futurista got a lot of media attention for Futurism. This was important because the movement was becoming less popular. It also connected directly to Italy's food supply, which was a big concern for Fascism in the 1920s.

Mussolini's "Battle for Grain" started in 1925. Its goal was for Italy to produce all its own food and not rely on other countries. This was called autarky, or self-reliance. Italy had a lot of debt after World War I and depended too much on outside food. So, food became a very important topic for Fascism. Even though Fascism started to embrace tradition, Marinetti and the Futurists kept pushing for new ideas.

Still, Futurism and Fascism had some things in common. Both loved aluminium. It was shiny, modern, and made entirely in Italy. Fascism saw it as Italy's national metal. Aluminum is still important to Italian identity, especially for making coffee. Caffeine, a stimulant, fit well with both Futurist and Fascist ideas. Marinetti famously called himself "the caffeine of Europe."

How Futurist Cooking Influenced Others

Futurist cooking had a big impact, and some of its ideas took many years to become popular. La Cucina Futurista predicted that science would play a bigger role in food and diet. Marinetti thought synthetic foods would change nutrition, correctly guessing the importance of food science.

The first Futurist restaurant, the Taverna del Santopalato, opened in Turin on March 8, 1931. It was designed by Marinetti, Fillìa, and Nikolay Diulgheroff. Its simple, clean inside, with lots of aluminum, was very different from traditional Italian restaurants. This style actually predicted how many future restaurants would look.

Some people also think Marinetti's interest in food chemistry influenced Molecular gastronomy. This is a modern way of cooking used by chefs like Ferran Adrià. It also influenced chefs like Massimo Bottura, who bring modern art into their cooking.

Futurist cooking also influenced more common things:

• Finger food: Eating with your hands.
• Fusion cuisine: Mixing different types of food.
• Food design: Making food look beautiful.

It's even been suggested that some Futurist ideas influenced the Slow food movement. This movement was started by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986. It was a reaction against Fast food. While Futurists liked speed, both movements wanted new ways of eating that were different from the global food system.

Example Futurist Meals

Here are some examples of the strange and creative meals the Futurists imagined:

• Diabolical Roses: These were red rose heads in full bloom, deep-fried.
• Divorced Eggs: Hard-boiled eggs were cut in half. The yolks were put on a potato puree, and the whites were put on a carrot puree.
• Milk in a Green Light: A large bowl of cold milk with honey, black grapes, and red radishes. It was served under a green light. The author suggested drinking it with a "polibibita," a cocktail of mineral water, beer, and blackberry juice.
• Tactile Dinner: For this meal, guests wore pajamas covered in different materials like sponge, cork, or sandpaper. They went into a dark room and chose a dinner partner just by touch. Then, they entered the dining room, found their partner, and ate at tables for two.

Meal Sequence

Traditional Italian meals follow a specific order. Futurist cooking often changed this order to surprise people.

• The meal began with a 'polyrhythmic salad.' This was a box with a bowl of undressed lettuce, dates, and grapes. The box had a crank. Guests ate with their right hand while turning the crank with their left. This made music, and the waiters danced until the course was finished.
• The second course was 'magic food.' It was served in small bowls covered with different textures. Guests held the bowl in their left hand. With their right, they picked out caramel balls filled with things like dried fruits, raw meat, garlic, mashed banana, chocolate, or pepper. Guests never knew what flavor they would get next.
• The third course was 'tactile vegetable garden.' This was a plate of cooked and raw green vegetables with no dressing. Guests ate the vegetables without using their hands. They buried their face in the plate, feeling the greens on their face and lips. Each time a guest lifted their head to chew, waiters sprayed their face with perfume.