Deliciously Red
The ingredient E120 colours food deliciously red.
It promises a shelf life of young vibrance, devoid of ageing, to a fast food industry that is overly concerned with the attractiveness of their products. Where E120 touches it leaves behind seductive hues of liveliness: pulsating reds to excite the senses like that of young blushing cheeks and ripe tomatoes. Candy, strawberry yoghurts, milkshakes and liquor light up red as they leave their factory origin.
Decoded, E120 translates to Carmine or Cochineal red - the pigmented essence of Cochineal bug blood. The bugs are born and die, to be the pigment of youthful red.
Deliciously Red was collaboratively designed with Christoph Dichmann for the gallery Palazzo Michiel during the 2018 Food Design Week in Venice, Italy. It was exhibited as an interactive installation in a show themed, ‘Vanitas’. Visitors were invited to experience the origins of E120 by pressing the Carmine blood onto an oblate, to then taste.
