Fermental Health | Transforming Abundance

Fermental Health: Transforming Abundance
Free Workshop Series with Sean-Roy Parker

In the November 2022 as part of Nourishment: a cyclical programme Sean Roy Parker lead four practical workshop for those already working in community kitchens and gardens within the Radford area of Nottingham and wider city to explore the art of fermentation. We worked with surplus bulk fruit and vegetables to make large batches of fermented, pickled and preserved food that were distributed back out to local people and food projects.

Over the sessions we dealt with breaking down surpluses without waste, improving shared knowledge of diet diversification and digestion, and explored creative interpretations of ancient techniques using culturally-appropriate ingredients. We met with masterchef microbes, feasted with wild yeasts, and found new flavours with fungi, building towards a community day where we jared, discuss and shared our creations.

Alongside the practical aspects, Sean Roy discussed low-carbon cooking, instigated ways to organise in community kitchens, and reached for a deeper collective understanding of food justice. How can we fix our broken food system and what will our fair society look like?

Sean-Roy Parker is a food writer, fermentation enthusiast and visual artist currently living at the field artist community in Derbyshire. He makes slow, low-tech work about the lifecycles of materials, problem-solving through collaboration and building robust, flexible frameworks for communal living and counter-cultural practices. He has taught fermentation workshops across the UK and Europe, and recently worked with Liverpool Biennial, Artcore Gallery (Derby), Well Projects (Margate), Pols (Valencia, Spain) and Kreenholm Gardens (Narva, Estonia).

Potluck Picnic | Sharing Event

This event was an opportunity for the people who participated in the Transforming Abundance workshops to taste and share the foods that came out of the process of fermenting and preserving. Roy put together a menu to showcase these flavors, and in-between each course shared reflections and writings from his and the group’s experience, with poems to finish off.

Transforming Abundance Zine

We have put together a zine to document the Transforming Abundance project with recipes, resources, poetry and a reflection text from Artist Sean Roy Parker.

below to download the PDF or view the printed copy in our reading room at Primary.

This event is part of the wider project Nourishment click here for information about other events and commissions within this project.