Food has become a status symbol in our society. In Berlin new restaurants, food concepts and dinner clubs are popping up on a daily basis; city magazines give insights into the best Burger Bars, secret dinner clubs and 3 star restaurants.

But walking down the streets of Berlin especially at weekends, also the waste of food becomes visible. Everywhere in the bins or on the ground one can find half eaten burgers, pizzas, Chinese take-away etc.

When at weekends crossing Warschauer Brücke in Berlin, one passes a sort of noman’s land with hotdog, kebap, chips and ice cream stalls, public toilet and photo booth marking the entrance to Berlin’s party district in Friedrichshain. But while the party crowd is streaming past this square, leaving a trail of half eaten food and waste, there are other people inhabiting this area – homeless people who, most of the time are ignored by those masses walking past, as obviously they don’t fit the concept of weekend entertainment. It is quite a cynical place where in front of people who would be glad to have some food, food is thrown it away. Hardly anyone considers to at least give the left-overs to the homeless – the foods lands in the bins or on the street. The homeless guy waiting behind the table at the hotdog stall for people to leave some food for him, gets send away and the left over food is thrown in the bin.

 

The Urban Dinner Street Food Club is a project reflecting on this waste. It was first created for the Confluences of Resonants Festival and then took place during different events and festivals.

 

For the performances of “Urban Dinner Street Food Club” Mareike collects thrown away food from the bins and streets in one area over one night. The next day, she and other performers set up a dinner table with all the found food nicely arranged as if for a festive event. They invite passers-by to join them at the table and get into conversation about food and waste.

The performance took place at different places in Berlin.