Cucina Semi Aquatica - live in August 2021
Cucina Semi Aquatica explores the ecosystems of two distant sites living between land and water, through unusual recipes and overlooked ingredients.
On Saturday 25th September the Cucina Semi Aquatica opened its online doors for a lunch and dinner cooking workshop which focused on introducing productive landscapes, existing between land and water, through the medium of food.
We cooked together via Zoom and the recording of this session will be available soon on Future School website.
On the day, we created three simple dishes - one starter, a main and a dessert - inspired by the Venice island of St Erasmo and the Liverpool and Leeds Canal.
The recipes we explores departed and took inspiration from these two very different landscapes, looking at their history and evolution across time. Although the meal featured ingredients which are very much local to these two sites, we invite everyone to recreate the recipes with the ingredients representing territories between land and water which are more local to them.
On this page you can find a list of ingredients - and guidelines on how to find local equivalents - the full cooking process and a list of utensils you might need if you plan to create the three recipes at home.
To share with us your adapted recipes, you can email carlotta@publicworksgroup.net
Thank you!
Ellesmere cicheto: pennywort soda bread, cranberry jam, mature cheddar and dijon mustard
WetLab in Burnley
Pennywort and duckweed at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port (UK)
Pennywort bread prototype 1
Flavours from the canal by Hannah Fincham and Ross Bennet - as part of WetLab
Pennywort Soda Bread from Ellesmere Port National Waterways Museum
Creamy Polenta with St Erasmo purple artichokes, crispy sage and Doge honey, exploring St Erasmo Island
Pear Sorbet with Meadowsweet Syrup, developed at Burnley Marina
Creamy Polenta, St Erasmo's artichokes, crunchy sage and Doge honey
St Erasmo landscapes - September 2021
Cucina Semi Aquatica was developed as one of the classes of School for Civic Action
Our thanks go to Francesca Ulivi from Fairland Collective and Matteo Stocco from Kinonautstudio who shaped early conversations around St Erasmo and its role within the Venice lagoon.
Cucina Semi Aquatica connects to the learnings generated through WetLab: a floating laboratory created by public works and Assembly which uses the UK canal networks as a site as well as a subject. WetLab is a space where creative minds including artists, architects, scientists, engineers and technologists invite the public to come and explore the ecology of the waterways and together envisage potential future uses for the canal in their local area.
WetLab is intended to create an opportunity for discussion and exploration, serving as a spark to imagine future uses of living on and around water. Working with the canals and waterways, WetLab will host playful experiments, workshops and cross-disciplinary discussions.
The canal-based pavilion, designed by critical design practice public works, will tour sites across Greater Manchester and Lancashire after launching in Cheshire for AND Festival 2021, becoming a hub for innovative learning, discussion, and engagement on the waterways.
WetLab by public works + Assembly is commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and Super Slow Way. Produced by Abandon Normal Devices for AND Festival 2021. Delivered in partnership with Canal & River Trust and Wigan Council. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. The WetLab was designed by Rhianon Morgan Hatch and Carlotta Novella from public works and programmed and activated with Hannah Fincham and Ross Bennet from Assembly.
