“Gourmet helpings of edible insects thrown into a sudden field-based Blade Runner future of insectivorous farming.”
Insecta Delecta is a sensory exploration towards an insectivorous future. Inside an edible vivarium Cat Jones presents recipes for assimilation…and all that frass*! With ‘exotic ingredients’ by chef Soon Lee Low.
*frass: 1. to feast, to devour (like an animal) 2. insecta ejectamenta
Presented deep in the cattle & sheep farming country of the Riverina, Insecta Delecta responds to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s 2013 appeal to promote entomophagy (eating insects) and address the future of food security in a global population boom.
Jones immerses audiences in a darkly humourous intervention that challenges Western diets, speculates on culinary and cultural futures to create an ironic commentary on capitalist commodification and industrialisation for the purpose of sustainability.
Jones’ research and practice in making Insecta Delecta includes entomology, animal husbandry, nutrition, cultural histories, social habits, cognitive behavior psychology, nutrition and gastronomy.
In making Insecta Delecta, Jones acknowledges and pays respect to the cultural practices of traditional custodians and the complex systems of sustainable ecology embedded within traditional cultures. Insecta Delecta premiered on Wiradjuri country during Bogong moth season, close to a migratory pathway.
Created by Cat Jones in collaboration with chef Soon Lee Low. Performance by Cat Jones and Tom Hogan. Sound design by Tom Hogan. Video Remix Cat Jones with Mark Greco and Ian Gibbins. Documentation Damien Jenkins, Next in Line Films and Joshua Thomas.
Commissioned by The Wired Lab, creators of landscape scale art, for the agri(culture) project, a series of events exploring the rural vernacular, ancient and emerging agricultural systems, curated by Sarah Last.
Premiere the agri(culture) project, Wired Open Day, Muttama NSW, 21 October 2017.
Media Previews The Plant Hunter and Realtime.
Acknowledgements
agri(culture) was funded by the federal government through the Australia Council for the arts, its arts funding and advisory body; Festivals Australia; and Create NSW.
Special thanks to Robert Blackburn at Macleay Museum, Paul Weston and Mark Greco at Charles Sturt University, Tom Hogan, Julie Vulcan, Anna Schoo, Dave Burraston, Sarah Last, John Hurst, Cate Hull, Teik Kim Pok, Kayla Shephard at Something Wild; Sky Blackburn at Edible Bug Shop, Eddie and Sharon at Butterfly Adventures and many others.
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