The School of Life

Joshua Sofaer cooks up a nine course chromatic feast

 

   

If you have been wondering what to cook that will be slightly more original than turkey or goose this Christmas, here is the menu for a nine course chromatic meal which goes from white to black. It was devised by the artist Joshua Sofaer for his latest project Rubbish Library/ Library Rubbish at ARCUS, Ibaraki, Japan.

WHITE
Marinated Seabream
Marinated Nagaimo Potato with Apple
Sashimi of Yuba

BEIGE
Boiled Tofu with Yuzu
Burdock Root and Potato with Sesame Dressing
Chicken Leg with Miso Sauce

PINK
Japanese Soup (Fu, Rolled Yuba, Myoga Ginger)
Raw Spring Rolls of Smoked Salmon
Salad of Grapefruit and Seafood

YELLOW
Sabzi of Cauliflower
Boiled Chrysanthemum Flower
Flan of Sea Urchin

RED
Spicy Tomato Soup
Pickled Red Pepper and Carrot
Tandoori Masala

GREEN
Green Salad
Sauteed Codfish with Butter and Parsley
Boiled Green Beans

PURPLE
Marinated Sweet Potato and Octopus with Basil
Pickled Cabbage and Eggplant with Sour Cream
Grated Daikon Raddish seasoned with Yukari Mint

BROWN
Roast Beef with Wasabi
Sweet Chestnut

BLACK
Christmas Squid Ink Pasta
Compote of Prune with Black Olive
Chocolate Mousse
Coffee

Joshua Sofaer is The School of Life’s expert on Collecting. He made the meal to celebrate an exhibition which involved collecting all the rubbish thrown out by the residents of Moriya in Japan in a single day. After carefully sorting and archiving many tons of discarded Manga, foodstuffs, pornography, dust, hair and so forth, Joshua created his immaculate library. View it here.

Paul Elliman's Alphabet

No words are necessary - we just love it.

Sophie Howarth on David Spero's Churches

David Spero's new book Churches is my favourite photography book of the year. It documents an array of buildings currently used as churches, none of which was built for the purpose. Often temporary, semi-permanent or unconsecrated, the buildings are located where we would least expect to find them, in industrial estates, shopping parades, houses, garages, cinemas, above pubs and commercial properties. Spero finds a spirit (whether Holy or not is up to us) in the most unlikely places and even for a non-believer like me, there is something very moving about the places in which people can manage to find meaning. What really comes across is a sense of striving for spaces of community and support in the face of the displacements caused by modern urban existence. We're stocking the book in The School of Life on on our shelf 'for those with a God-shaped hole'.

Sophie is Director of The School of Life

Sophie Howarth on Tim Walker's fantasy world

Do see Tim Walker's exhibition at the Design Museum. This is outrageously imaginative stuff: lavish, absurd, fabulous images often based on the stories Tim read as a kid. Camping indoors, gardening in the bath, pink elephants, giant swans, ice-creams galore, a bit of Cecil Beaton, a lot of Lewis Carroll. You want to climb into these make-believe sets and just play.

Sophie is Director of The School of Life

Charlotte Mann at The School of Life

This is the extraordinary mural Charlotte Mann has drawn throughout the teaching space at The School of Life. If you visit our shop, just ask and we'll take you downstairs to see it.