Umeå Pantry Umeå Skafferi
Survival Kit Festival - Bildmuseet Umeå
October 2014

The Swedish Pantry portrays the European Cultural City 2014 over its food. What is naturally available? What grows in and around Umeå? Who and where are the producers?­


Cecilia Andersson, Sujy Lee, Tobias Westerlund and the Skafferi team.
Wapke Feenstra from Myvillages.
Bildmuseet Umeå

From Sunday Sep 21 - Sunday Oct 19 during the Survival Kit Festival, Umeå Pantry will be filled with donations from local growers and producers, and it is open for our guests to come up with what they could offer in return. The pantry in this sense represents what people can and want to “give” each other. We hope that it will mirror not only the landscape in and around Umeå, but also the local food production network and its consumers. Umeå Pantry also offers an opportunity to reflect on our roles in the food chain. It will serve as a lively meeting place where dialogues about food can take place between consumers and local producers. We aspire for the pantry, while it is being cleared out by our food­-sharing events, to be filled with new ideas, discussions and creative suggestions on sustainable food culture in Umeå.

The pantry will be on display throughout the whole festival and during it’s regular open hours, on Pilgatan 16. It will be open for food-sharing events every weekend from Friday to Sunday, along with various activities dedicated to food-related themes. This includes Skafferi Prat (‘Pantry Talks’), presentations, workshops, seminars, informal dialogues and more. The program is wide-open to the public and free of charge!
Below is a program of events related to the art-piece, taking place at the pantry (Pilgatan 16) and other locations.

THE THEMATICS

Week 1: Farming and Landscape (presented 20 – 21 Sept)
Meet and greet Myvillages, the local farmers, urban gardeners and experts in geography, ethnobiology, Sami food culture and more. Their stories will challenge and broaden our perception of Umeå’s farming landscape and its cultural space. We are, after all, not so far away from where our food is being originated. You can also win a free trip to farms for locally produced meals and drinks!

Week 2: The Taste of Transparency (presented 26 – 28 Sept)
Sometimes it is difficult to stop and think about where our food comes from, how it came here and why. However, there are ways to enjoy the bounty and diversity of food, more consciously, responsibly and ethically. Let us explore the locally available food resources, its production and supply chains. Our guests, including producers, retailers, chefs, researchers and consumers, will reveal the facts and realities of food, and encourage us to think beyond our conventional role in the food chain.

Week 3: Symposium: Why Food Matters? (presented 3 – 5 Oct)
Make your favourite cake, pie, or anything that inspires you. Get your friends and join us in a relaxed dinner with policy makers, environmental activists, food producers, social entrepreneurs, writers, researchers. We will engage in tasteful discussions on the socio-political realities and the value of food, as well as the impact it has on our culture and environment. If you have been hungry for raising your questions on the current food issues, or voicing your thoughts in public, this is your golden chance!

Week 4: The Art of Transformation (presented 10 – 12 Oct)
The practice of transforming natural resources into something we can eat, and raw materials into something we can use for food production and dining rituals, is an important part of our food culture. Why not come and try it yourself and get introduced to the local knowledge and skills? There will be a variety of DIY workshops, talks and presentations by local craftspeople, producers, artists and volunteers. We can together create a unique dining experience, guaranteed to stimulate all of your senses!

Week 5: Pantry Manifesto, Umeå 2014 (presented 17 – 19 Oct)
What happens next? What are the problems and how can we solve it? Let us go wild with new ideas on how to innovate, change and act towards a sustainable food culture in Umeå. There will be on-site design workshops, presentations of upcoming local food projects, discussions on the afterlife of Umeå Pantry and more. Besides imagining Umeå 2015 and beyond, there shall be no Pantry food that goes to waste by the end of the festival!

PROGRAM (more events will be added and changes may occur)
•21 September – Harvest Party
With Urban Gardeners @ Umeå Pantry. Come and try the foods grown in the city of Umeå; learn about the urban gardening activities; join the discussions on sustainable and self-sufficient food culture.
•21 September – Meet and Greet Myvillages
An artist presentation by Wapke Feenstra @ Flexhallen at Bildmuseet. She will talk about Myvillages’ artistic practice and Umeå Pantry project. There will be presentations by other participating artists from Survival Kit Festival. See the festival program for more information.
•26-27 September – Taste of Transparency
A cooking workshop with the students @ Umeå University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts and Pavlos Georgiadis, our special guest from Greece. The results of the workshop will be presented and shared at Umeå Pantry on September 27.
•4 October – Symposium: Why Food Matters?
A seminar on food politics, biodiversity and taste-driven economy @ Café Planet on Kungsgatan 101, in collaboration with Studiefrämjandet. There will be local and international guests including Pavlos Georgiadis having dialogues with visitors around a dining table.
•10 October – Azolla Cooking Workshop
With Erik Sjödin @ Umeå Pantry (5-7pm) in connection with his art project at the Survival Kit Festival. Azolla is a fast-growing and nutritious water plant which has been suggested as a sustainable alternative to other greens.
•11 October – Biodome Seminar
With Erik Sjödin @ Café Planet on Kungsgatan 101 following his “Azolla Cooking Workshop” on 10 October. The guest speakers include Enrique Lescure from Earth Organisation for Sustainability and Alexander R. Bascom who initiated the Biodome project in Lögdeå.
•12 October – Oyster Mushroom Cooking Workshop
With Renyuan Huang @ Umeå Pantry. A Chinese ex- finance specialist decided to gratify his love and need for the best quality mushrooms by starting up his own farm/company, Swedfungi AB. He will share his mushroom recipes with us.

For more updated and detailed information, please visit: http://umea-skafferi.tumblr.com or https://www.facebook.com/umea.skafferi
For further details about Survival Kit – and other events during the festival, se main page for Survival Kit on Umeå2014, visit our webpage or Facebook group.

Photos by Sebastian Bolesch and Sujy Lee


This website documents the work of Myvillages from 2003 to 2023.

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Contact us at info@myvillages.org