Eruption of taste: Bompas & Parr create extreme cooking experience

07 : 08 : 2014 Distrubia Dining : Bompas & Parr : Cooking With Lava

Syracuse, New York – London-based design duo Bompas & Parr have collaborated with a team of artists and scientists to stage events where the food was cooked with man-made lava and high-voltage lighting.

Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr
Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr
Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr
Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr Cooking with Lava by Bompas & Parr

The inspiration for the duo’s Cooking with Lava project came from a visit to Sakurajima, an active volcano in Japan. ‘After climbing across the safety barriers, I was able to use lava to cook lunch,’ Sam Bompas told Slate magazine. ‘The intensity of the experience meant that on returning to the UK, I immediately sat down with Harry Parr to plot. We wanted to see if there was a way to create synthetic lava so a wider audience could experience the wonders of food cooked in this way.’

To execute the concept, Bompas & Parr worked with a team of scientists from Syracuse University led by Professor Robert Wysocki. An industrial bronze furnace was used to melt 1.1-billion-year-old basaltic rock and create an artificial volcano that erupted with a stream of 2,100°F lava. The meat was then placed over the hot liquid to cook in seconds.

As part of the project, Bompas & Parr visited a high-voltage laboratory at the University of Southampton, where they placed steaks in the path of a 200,000-volt electrical bolt to simulate cooking with lightning.

Encouraged by the success of the project, Bompas & Parr plan to collaborate with Wysocki to offer bespoke lava banquets, featuring a giant furnace and producing a multi-sensory, volcano-themed experience.

Cooking with Lava is an excellent example of Disturbia Dining – food events and environments offering consumers extreme and even distressing experiences, outlined in our macrotrend The Polarity Paradox. For more, read our Wolvesmouth Innovate.

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