“Sauerkraut” is a well-known German national dish. It ´s chopped cabbage salted, stomped and fermented in its own juice. “Sauer” in German means “sour”, but can also has the meaning of being angry. “Sauerkraut” is the name of an art action, Anja Fiedler wants to draw attention to our estrangement to food, that causes neglecting of value, food waste and environmental problems.
Anja Fiedler realizes, that first and foremost we are eating with eyes. Good quality food doesn’t make it to the table, because it doesn´t meet shape or appearance standard. To achieve the perfect look, producers apply more and more fertilizer, pesticides, preservations etc. This doesn´t improves our food, but causes environmental problems.
In her art action “Sauerkraut”, participant will re-experience food by stomping cabbage with hand and feet.
Why cabbage? Cabbage is an every day dish you can buy cheap all year round. Especially in Taiwan in winter there is an overproduction and the price sometimes „less than an egg“. „Only half the cabbage picked in the field even makes it to the dinner table, because of problems along the supply chain, mostly losses during the transportation process and produce weeded out because it does not meet shape or appearance standards.“ (Common Wealth Magazine April 03, 2013.)
By stomping the cabbage lactobacilli start their work and enable preservation in a healthy way. By stomping Anja Fiedler also wants to create a “picture”, how we unwittingly not treasure and waste food. After stomping everyone can put “his” cabbage in a glass and take it home, watching it for 14-20 days finishing the fermenting process. Then everyone can enjoy to eat it with friends or stored it for about 6 months.
