Last Supper Food Art 2009 – Emily Miranda

Food Artist Emily Miranda

Title:  Sugar Cake

Ingredients: Sugarpaste (powdered sugar, gum tragacanth, corn syrup, vegetable shortening), Royal Icing (powdered sugar, egg whites, water)

A vase, holding long, lush, lifelike stems of swiss chard. Both to be made entirely of sugarpaste and royal icing.
The consumption of sugar has always been political. At the time of its first introduction to Europe, it was available only for the very wealthy. The tradition of table sculptures made of sugar was a demonstration of extreme decadance and waste. Today, sugar and economic means remain closely linked. Those with money consume fresh, healthy food from places like “Whole Paycheck”, and choose to watch their sugar consumption for health. Those without means live in neighborhoods without farmers markets, but grocery stores with perpetual sales on soda and processed foods loaded with sugar. In a sense, they can’t afford not to consume sugar.

The proposed sugar sculpture will be made in the language of dutch still life painting, a genre which wasted food for art. Showcasing stems of swiss chard in the context of sugar removes the green, leafy vegetable from view as a modest farmer’s crop and places it as an indicator of political and economic consumption.

Bio

b. New Jersey 1973.
BFA  painting, Rhode Island School of Design 1995
MFA  painting, Hunter College 2004
Lives and works, making  cakes and jewelry, in Brooklyn NY.