THE PROJECT

Even if we don’t know how to cook the traditional recipes to use up excess, the simple gesture of toasting, blitzing to breadcrumbs, or freezing will not only prevent waste but also value our bread, who produces it and all the necessary and valuable resources required to bring it to our table. To waste perfectly good bread for human consumption brings ethical issues, as well as environmental and economic questions, both for families, enterprises and the planet. As consumer decisions are responsible for wasting almost a fifth of all the bread acquired for home consumption, changing behaviours is the key to tackle waste. 

What if bread could talk with you? What would it say? Imagine every individual roll or sliceable bread could whisper in your ear what to do with it the day you buy it (and don’t eat it), the next day or the day after. Or imagine its crust could show the words as days go by, so bread could “say” what can be done, using stamps or marks able to appear depending on how old the bread is, thus reminding people the actions required to not waste it. Also, in a time of digital existence, an imprint on the bread of a QR code might provide the necessary information to act on a daily basis, with ideas to use any extra bit (from freezing to easy recipes). 

 

What we need is Talking Breads!  

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Talkings Breads is a project by Suzana Parreira, Assistant Professor at FBAUL (Faculdade de Belas-Artes, Universidade de Lisboa) where she graduated in Communication Design and, since 2002, has been teaching different courses in Cultural Studies, Communication Design and Food Design.