In the last two centuries alone, more than 500 species of plants have been driven to extinction. Many more are currently on the brink, threatened by the changing climate and the way we grow and trade our food. And yet, there is reason to be hopeful. All around the world, farmers are working with scientists, creatives and chefs to make a different future possible. One where the soil is rich with native seeds and crops, and where your garden could become the source of your cuisine. What role could designers play in this effort?
This is a question that designer Carla Rotenberg asks through her project, A Bite of Extinction. Her research highlights the alarming decline in food diversity and the loss of culinary heritage, particularly in Spain’s central region. Knowing that biodiversity is crucial to the health of our agri-food system, she seeks to connect key players in the industry through activities that inspire exchange and awareness. This vision comes to life through the abandoned Legazpi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Madrid, which she dreams of transforming into a hub of community and culture.
Here, we speak to the Redesign Everything Challenge winner about what is lost when local produce is forgotten, and why it’s time to redesign seed banks as we know them.
Left: Concept design and illustration for A Bite of Extinction. Right: Carla Rotenberg and collaborator Lucía de la Torre during the Redesign Everything Sprint. Photo: Anisa Xhomaqi.
Hi Carla, can you introduce yourself and your project?
I’m Carla, I’m a designer from Madrid, Spain, and I focus on the intersection of design and food. The idea behind A Bite of Extinction is to reconnect communities with forgotten foods from their region. The project specifically deals with foods at risk of extinction, crop types that are endangered, and that we have forgotten about.
It’s sad because I feel like cities all over the world are starting to taste the same — and they already look quite similar, too. When you go to the supermarket now, you have so much variety, so many options, you can buy bananas all year round in Amsterdam. So you might think that you have access to more diversity than your parents or your grandparents did, but you probably have less in terms of the variety of native foods. There’s a huge world that is being forgotten in this streamlined food system.
“I started this project to show how we can democratise access to the historical seeds and flavours of your region.”
How did the idea first come about?
I was actually inspired by a documentary I watched. It was a story of three brothers who run a very famous restaurant in Spain. Each of the brothers takes care of a different part of the business, but their mother is the one that founded the restaurant. And when she was turning 85, they wanted to do something nice for her. They thought of doing what they do best, which is cooking, and making a meal with the foods that she remembered loving as a little girl. But while they were trying to recreate these recipes, they realised they couldn’t find almost any of the ingredients that they needed. Just like that, in the span of one generation, most of what people had eaten in those rural regions was gone, replaced by supermarket foods.
They went on to research this problem, but of course they were doing it in a very small scale. And I think it’s so great to get a sense of belonging through what your place tastes like, but that’s something everyone should have access to. So the reason I started this project was to show how we can democratise access to the historical seeds and flavours of your region.
Illustration by Carla Rotenberg.
Why is it so important that we address this issue right now?
I think right now, there’s a lot of scattered people working on this issue, from a lot of different lenses. From a scientific lens, there’s one one very obvious reason why it’s important, which is the DNA or genetic diversity of plants. Often, monocultures are more susceptible to disease and pests, making your entire food system more dependent. If all our crops are from the same category, the moment a virus arises, it can destroy everything.
Also, our climate is changing. Seeds everywhere have to adapt to what is happening. It could be that we’re going to have to start growing seeds that are local to Spain in the Netherlands, if the temperatures shift. So it’s important to not just stick to a few varieties.
Then there’s the culinary memory lens, which I think is important also for the consumer, because in the end, food is not just nutrition. Food is something very personal and very emotional. It does more than just nurture our bodily needs, it also nurtures our soul and connects us to people.
“Food is not just nutrition. It does more than just nurture our bodily needs, it also nurtures our soul.”
What role do you think designers can play in this?
So, I think there’s a missed opportunity in the scientific field to reconnect this issue with consumers and to work together with other organisations. And I think that’s what we as designers can do, because I’m a designer, not a scientist or a farmer. What I can do is take the great effort and work that they’re doing and connect it to people that don’t know about it. To make it accessible for young generations. That can be a designer’s job. So that’s where I see the project coming together.
Left: Carla Rotenberg with a scale model of the Legazpi Market. Photo: Anisa Xhomaqi. Right: Concept design and illustration for A Bite of Extinction.
Can you tell us more about the community hub you’re hoping to build?
Yes, so right now most of the endangered foods or seeds we have, are placed in seed banks. Imagine these seed banks as loads of shelves with boxes where the seeds are kept in conditions that put them to “sleep” so that in case of an emergency we can “wake them up” and grow them.
In my opinion this is a missed opportunity. Because how are we putting something that is alive — like a seed — into something as sterile as a bank and just leaving it there? Seeds evolve, and if you just lock it away it fails to adapt. We have a changing climate, we have changing conditions, so if we lock the seed away, in 50 years it is probably not going to grow in the place it was originally taken from.
This is why we are looking into how we might convert the architectural state of seed banks into a place for community. So within the building we could start from a place like a seed bank, but then also have the plants growing in an urban garden. There could be testing labs where scientists could research these seeds, or catalogue their DNA. And then finally when these foods are grown with the help of the community, you could eat them together in a restaurant that’s also within the building.
The idea is that this space could also serve as some kind of museum, where visitors can see what is locally grown, what is researched, what is eaten and grasp the whole connection. So, it becomes a place for people to interact with food, rather than just a bank of closed boxes.
“We are looking into how we might convert the architectural state of seed banks into a place for community.”
What’s the next step?
Well, the project is still at a very early idea stage, as it’s a project that I came up with for my Bachelor thesis last year. And what I think is a shame is that a lot of students come up with really great ideas, great projects and then we graduate people say to us, “Okay now find a job, go into the real world. You had great ideas but this is not how it works.” However this project is very close to my heart so I’m grateful that it got this kind of recognition.
Our next step is to find more of these scattered people who are working on this issue in the region and find ways to start connecting them. So: finding collaborators, maybe even in other cities. Because we’re seeing the problem right now in Madrid, but every city in the world has crops that are facing extinction. Maybe we can learn from each other. Or maybe there are other places that are, for example, just focussing on the science and they haven’t considered the emotional value that they could bring into this. So basically we’re looking at planning events, planning workshops, and bringing people to different places while they’re not connected under one roof yet.
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This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Interview by Natasha Berting and Chieri Higa.
Illustration by Carla Rotenberg.