Photo: Huda Takriti
“Few drinks inspire skepticism quite like the pickleback […] a slug of whiskey followed by a bracing chaser shot of pickle brine, poured straight from the jar – has gained popularity in the U.S. in recent years as a novel way of making mediocre liquors more palatable.”
Tim Hume, The Power of the Pickleback, Wallstreet Journal 28.2.2013
The shot can also be chased by a bite of a selfmade pickle. Feeling like an alchemist, I created a special gourmet welcome drink on the occasion of “als künstlerische Praxis” curated by Franz Thalmair as part of the exhibition series “In der Kubatur des Kabinetts” in Fluc Vienna. 2 weeks before the exhibition’s party, I pickled organic pickles in apple vinegar with pepper, salt and carraway seed in a 3.400 ml preservation jar and many double shots of whiskey in 47 ml jars that I carefully placed in the entrance area on a table, covered with tinfoil, which belongs to Fluc.
Pickling is political: as a productive catalyst for digestion with healthy pure brine in recyclable zerowaste jars standing for static national purity’s preservation, but at the same time, a sign of moving bacterias, rotting and disintegration and exportation.
Photos: Eva Weber
Within my broad artistic practice I started in 2018 “My Gourmet Diary In Preservation Jars” #jaroftheday on Instagram inspired by Martha Rosler’s “A Budding Gourmet”. I am acting as zerowaste influencer while thinking about international food production and how gathering to eat and drink can connect cultures and rituals from different times and places. Since 2013 I have frequently used food package products such as jars and foils to produce sculptures.
The jar menu presented in “My Gourmet Diary In Preservation Jars” applies inventive approaches such as fermentation and pickles, creating vivid, veggie and nutritious snacks, sweets, drinks. Through these, the menu explores waste-free, food and drink preparation, the “gourmet”, and authenticity in relation to migration of foods and customs.
