Climavore: On Tidal Zones

Climavore explores how to eat as climate changes. It is a long-term project with site-specific interventions that use food as a tool to address environmental degradation. Different from carnivore, omnivore, locavore, vegetarian, or vegan diets, Climavore is a form of devouring that reacts to anthropogenic landscapes and uses ingredients as infrastructural responses to man-induced climatic events.

Climavore: On Tidal Zones responds to the dead zones created by salmon farms in the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Working with residents, restaurants, activists, schools and the general public, it aims to divest away from salmon farming and develop alternative aqua-cultures, by working with bivalves and seaweeds that clean the water by breathing. The multi-phase installation in Skye is an ‘oyster table’ in the tidal zone. At high tide, the structure allows its 1000 oysters to breath, each filtering up to 120L of seawater per day. At low tide, it emerges above the sea and functions as a dining table for humans. Over breakfast, lunch, or dinner (according to the tides), performative meals feature a series of Climavore ingredients, where workshops with fishermen, politicians, residents, and scientists have been held to discuss another cultural imaginary for the island.

A network of restaurants was also established: each replaced farmed salmon with a Climavore dish. The ongoing project is expanding into a permanent installation: The Climavore Station. Shaped as an eatery serving Climavore foods, it will provide technical and legal advice on how to open your oyster farm; support claims to reject expansion applications of salmon farms; facilitate marine research on alternative aqua-cultures; and train young cooks on the island, to introduce a new coastal horizon for Skye altogether.