Eruption of taste: Bompas & Parr create extreme cooking experience

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.