Lockdown Larder

Designed by Winchester School of Art PhD researchers Lesia Tkacz and Noriko Suzuki-Bosco, the Lockdown Larder began as ‘a fun, casual, and collective project for us all to share and document a snapshot of our lives during lockdown’. Contributors were invited ‘to respond or comment to the new situation we find ourselves in through the food that we eat, repeat, long for, make do with, find comfort in, speculate about, or have come to loathe’.

Now, over a dozen recipes have been assembled into a PDF cookbook, available here.

Dish categories include:

Pasta Dessert
While pasta or noodles are usually used for savory dishes, we challenge you to create a sweet treat using any type of pasta or noodle. This includes but is not limited to lasagna sheets, dumpling wrappers, rice noodles, and legume and vegetable based pasta. Unusual preparation techniques can be used here such as deep frying, dyeing, beating to a paste, constructing, or coating.

Neapolitan
Like the icecream, this dish brings together three foundational ingredients: one tinned product, one carbohydrate, and one fresh item. This category is inspired by the ‘Quickie Bag’ challenge from the UK cooking gameshow Ready Steady Cook​ – will you be stuck with a red pepper, or a green tomato?

Hybrid
Create a hybrid food by combining at least 2 traditional or popular dishes. This combination can be a mash-up, a remix, a gastronomic fusion, an accident, an alchemic amalgamation, or an absolute abomination.

Lockdown Classic
Rename and describe an iconic lockdown dish. This could be a meal that you find yourself making over and over again, whether out of comfort or necessity. It could be a symptomatic dish which is a sign of the times we are currently living in, or a dish which represents a possible future. Wordplay is highly encouraged in this category.

1970s Dinner Party Disaster
The 1970s experienced social change, economic upheavals, the microchip revolution, iconic films, and some seriously bad food. Take inspiration from bygone health food fads, the arrival of the deep freezer in domestic spaces, kitschy culinary presentation, and instant meals. Horrify everyone by recreating outdated hors d’oeuvres and retro munchies, or adapt them for a 2020s web dinner party.

Naturally, I had to contribute a ‘Hybrid’ food, and I also sent in a submission for the ‘Lockdown Classic’ category. Check out all of the recipes at this link.

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