Cooking Workshops to Prepare for the End of the World #6: Tea

Theater maker Sien Vanmaele combines theater with cooking and food in sensory performances. In 2019 she started her Cooking Workshops to Prepare for the End of the World, with climate change as the main driver. In these performances she interweaves her interest in food, the systems that surround it, and its impact on the climate. The corona crisis has given her initiative an unexpected extra significance.

One aspect of food is central to each of the workshops. After previous editions on topics including fermentation and seaweed, for IDFA she is exploring the possibilities of tea as a potential lifeline for an impending apocalypse. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world, but its cultivation poses challenges for both people and the environment.

During this virtual performance, you’ll go out in search of a tea ceremony for the future, starting from your own kitchen. Sien will lead you live in small groups through this sensually stimulating ritual. Can the tranquility of a tea ceremony help to ease our apocalyptic thoughts? Should we be looking for a more sustainable substitute for tea?