The Plastic Menu – a pictorial statement about microplastics in the environment.
Many of the teams who work with me know that I loathe food waste and have containers set up all around the studio on food shoots to collect leftovers for donations, composting and feeding neighbours chooks. I first started donating food to OzHarvest back in the early 2000’s when I would find myself in shock as to how much food waste when on at cookbook shoots.
The message behind the below series of images is one of not only reducing food waste, but its intention is to bring awareness to the public of the amount of micro plastics in our food chain. If we, in the first world, continue to waste food at the rate we have been, all we will have left to eat is the packaging.This is coupled with the message that if we continue to pollute our environment with single use disposable items such as plastic packaging, cutlery, straws etc, we will literally be eating food containing these micro plastics.
Impossible to perceive by the naked eye, but possible to detect through blood tests. The way forward is to not only stop the manufacture of these single use products, but also by educating the public by showcasing the negative outcomes of using such products. We all have the power to say no on an individual basis, for example, refusing plastic bags at the check out, or by keeping one’s own cutlery in a handbag or backpack when purchasing lunch during a work day.
A styrofoam cup might be a convenient solution to the immediate “problem” of wanting to consume a beverage outside of the home but the problem created by millions of individuals generating waste every single day by not sitting down to drink the latte or smoothie at a cafe’, or by bringing one’s own Keep Cup, is far greater than the momentary inconvenience.
Set styling and food sculptures by Jun Chen.
