In spite – or perhaps because – of courting controversy, all have become world-famous artworks over the years, so there is probably no good reason why the Jersey potato should not have had its turn in the creative spotlight.
Earlier this month members of the Fairland Collective, a group of artists visiting the Island for local art collective The Morning Boat’s latest project, demonstrated how the meanings and stories of the potato could be transformed into cultural artwork. Oh, and participants got to eat the potatoes – for free – too.
Morning Boat producer Kaspar Wimberley described the creation of this street food as ‘the continuation of the company’s research based on discussions with Islanders’.
Like the Invisible Hands exhibition at the Arts Centre, which used the creative ideas of local Polish farmworkers as a means to discuss the conditions under which they live in the Island, this latest project, the Potato Connoisseurs, was intended to provoke thought and debate.
A total of 40 different varieties of the maincrop potato had been turned into the mashed potato dumplings that formed the core of the creative output – dubbed ‘Tempura’ by Mr Wimberley.
Among the dishes on offer were the crapaud nouveau – a combination of mint and Jersey honey – and Big Stink with its blue-cheese sauce, and Sit Up Straight, a version without toppings or adornment inspired by an austere Jèrriais poem.
These were all the product of exchanges between Fairland Collective and the Jersey public, attending workshops, making lanterns, and sharing stories to explore ‘the cultural complexities of the Jersey Royal’.
