Plant Bones is the latest project by Marije Vogelzang which is presented at the Thinking Food Design exhibition at Galerie Joseph Braque during Paris Design week starting the 5th of September 2015. This project is said to be ‘an archeological inquiry of the future’.
 
What if, by design, something in our evolutional past did not evolve in the same way? What if elephants could fly in a cloudy sky in the same way whales swim in the vast sea? Does it seem strange or impossible? The truth is something as tiny as a little seed falling in a different place could effect a big evolutionary change. We are forever evolving, nature is never finished defining itself. Who knows what the end of our evolutionary journey will look like.
 
Within the project PLANT BONES Vogelzang investigates the what if of plants with a meat-like structure and bones. Are they highly evolved, genetically engineered or the result of a nuclear mutation of some sort? What if plants had bones from vegetal cellulose with meat-like tissue growing around them? It would certainly make up for a botanical curiosity that would have scientists of the future wondering.
 
PLANT BONES could also provide for an interesting vegan eating experience. In a world where we find ourselves challenged to find alternatives for our excessive meat consumption, something like this would relieve us from killing animals on an ever larger scale. What if plants really would taste like meat? Would it increase or decrease their popularity? Is a plant still a plant with meat and bones? What really defines a plant?
 
Meat on a leaf with a bone like structure: it will take some getting used too. But think of the culinary possibilities and subtle range of flavours. Flowery meat plants, mosses and ferns. Can you imagine their taste?

Vogelzang questions the act of eating through her projects and designs. Nothing comes closer to human beings than food since food is something they literally internalize through the act of eating. Vogelzang’s work is dedicated to analyzing this act by her design in eight substantial categories: the senses, nature, culture, society, technique, psychology, science and action. It’s here we find insight in the performance of eating. Meat like plants would add a compelling dimension to food dialogue and ultimately to our plate.
 
Donata van der Rassel
 
www.marijevogelzang.nl
 
Thinking Food Design exhibition at Galerie Joseph Braque
 
 
Intrigued by human behavior, values and awareness, Donata van der Rassel is a trend watcher and concept developer with a passion for sustainability. She aims to make the world a better place by working with conscious entrepeneurs and businesses to effect radical positive change.
 
www.aurora-concepts.com