"Sapid Soil" is the second edition of Convivial Tables, TBA21–Academy’s active research program dedicated to the ties between food and ecology and the way these affect bodies of water.​

"Sapid Soil - Prelude" opens the program of culinary events curated by The Tidal Garden with a buffet that explores the edibility of Venice's waterfront. From the sea fennel that grows from boat poles to the fig tree that takes root in Istrian stone, the so-called 'weeds' signal the organic nature of the city monument and reveal a potential new terrain for rethinking conservation.

Imagining a culinary tradition that has learned to make use of weeds, "Sapid Soil - Prelude" offers a glimpse of a plausible yet real present where architectural heritage is no longer an inert presence. But, on the contrary, it is preserved through the integration of its minerals, bacteria, and fibers into food cycles that extend to the surrounding environment.

The tocio—a thick, Koji-fermented, continuously-evolving sauce, is served alongside a purple cabbage waffle with fermented amoli, goat robiola and sea fennel. The menù is developed by The Tidal Garden in collaboration with chef Marco Bravetti (Tocia! Cucina e Comunità) to integrate weed into traditional food-preservation processes, foreshadowing past and future life-worlds still possible to recover.

PROGRAM

"Sapid Soil: Prelude" is part of Convivial Tables: Sapid Soil, a program of events that insists on the possibilities of food habits to become tools for the emergence of amphibious worlds for a past, present, and future still possible to recover. Taking place between May and October 2023 at Ocean Space, a series of culinary interventions present the ongoing agronomic work of The Tidal Garden with local farmers and institutions. Chefs and businesses explore the edibility of halophytes and saline soils, inviting participants to speculate on the policies that could allow the physical and cultural cultivation, processing, and digestion of a sapid environment.