A budding gourmet

Martha Rosler

A budding gourmet, 1974

Artwork text

The videotape is based on the postcard novel of the same name (1974). A woman (Rosler) speaks about her wish to be a gourmet. She promises to improve the social standing of her family and herself with “the finer things of life” and the production and consumption of exotic cuisine. Magazine pictures of artfully constructed dishes, chefs, kitchen utensils, of consumption and affluence, but also of hungry and needy people fade in during the woman’s monologue. At the same time, tasteful music, the third movement of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden quartet, can be heard. The video, in the style of a TV cooking program, teaches the viewers not so much the high art of food preparation, but instead throws up such topics as feminism, class and (third) world politics. Cooking may also be understood as a metaphor for artistic production. (Sabine Breitwieser)