Nerd Nite 39
The knowledge we acquired over the centuries made us who we are today. For the first Nerd Nite of 2019, we will trace the delicious bread crumbs of the past and the future. With our first speaker, Guanmian Xu, we will travel to the far east where he will let us experience the spicy exoticism in China, often disappearing in the existing history of spices. Our second speaker Alexander Ebbing will project us into the future, in the middle of the impending survival crisis caused by global warming. He will show us how he contributes to solving this problem as a seaweed expert and food pioneer and what kind of dilemmas he needs to cope with.
Will you help shape our future? Come to CREA on the 1st of February and debate with your fellow nerds! Be there, be square!
The ideological dilemmas of food pioneers
By Alexander Ebbing
If you believe that things need to change in order to tackle the problems of the 21st century, then you also believe that certain changes have priorities over others. Especially with a deadline of only 12 years (IPCC) before
global warming reaches a critical value, one can understand that the decisions we take now will shape the faith of humanity. But what are the roads we can choose from? Which one can lead us to the best results? This ideological dilemma is present in all decision-making concerning our future and Alexander will dive deep into it with us using seaweed aquaculture as an example. As a seaweed pioneer, he will show us his road towards helping the planet including his struggles.
Bio: I am a marine biologist that have been working with seaweed for the last 6 years. During this period I have built seaweed farms throughout north-western Europe and was active in the breeding and propagation of kelp. Lately, I am doing my PhD where I try to domesticate kelp as a novel crop that can be used in aquaculture on sea.
Exotica in Chinese Taste: Rethinking the Spice History
By Victor (Guanmian) Xu
Television, computers, the internet, we live in an interconnected world. But globalisation is as old as history itself. When someone talks about global history, the historical study of globalisation, you might think of the exchange of commodities, people and knowledge.
But did you know the exchange of tastes played a crucial role as well? Often our desire for exotic flavours has shaped history! Most people are familiar with the introduction of exotic foods,spices and beverages in Europe, but the rest of the world is often overlooked.
Let’s travel back with Victor from Mongol invasion till the Manchu conquest of China (1300-1800), tracking the changing tastes in China, you will be surprised how many exotic goods they introduced into their daily cooking! Maybe even something from your hometown?
Bio: Xu Guanmian (Victor) 徐冠勉 has been interested in the history of exotic plants and capitalism since around 2012 (before that year, he worked for a shipping company). He is now working on a research project about how Asian consumption of exotic plants (and animals) contributed to the making of the world as we know today.
DETAILS:
Friday 1st February
Doors open at 20:00
First talk at 20:30
at CREA Muziekzaal
Nieuwe Achtergracht 170
1018 WV Amsterdam
Posted in Uncategorized