Tag: Potato Humanities

  • Parmentier Would Have Approved

    On March 1, 2024, a four-course gourmet potato dinner (Kartupelis Gardēdim / Potato for Gourmets) was held at Michelin-star restaurant H.E. Vanadziņš Ziemeļu restorāns as part of the United By Potato Power events in Cēsis, Latvia.

    Sigita Kletniece welcoming diners and introducing Jeffrey Allen Price

    I can unequivocally state that this was one of the greatest meals of my life so far, and I am grateful to chef Edgars Rubenis for living up to the challenge of creating a potato-themed haute cuisine dining experience. The chef came out after every course and explained how he had used potatoes in his delectable creations (at least eight local varieties). I believe the diners in attendance were quite impressed and satiated, but I was beyond satisfied—rather in awe and ecstasy!

    First Course: Potato / meadow cranberry (Vegetarian adaptation).
    Photo by Jeffrey Allen Price
    Main Course: Potato / broad beans.(Vegetarian Adaptation).
    Photo by Jeffrey Allen Price.
    Dessert: Potato / yogurt / chocolate cake. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Allen Price.

    When I was invited to participate in the potato conference and related events, I suggested the idea of this dinner, and I am grateful to everyone who enthusiastically embraced the concept and made it a reality. Before the first course was served, I had the honor of welcoming the approximately forty guests in attendance and offering a brief introduction to the evening. I spoke about Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the eighteenth-century chemist and agronomist whose famous potato dinners inspired the event, and reflected on the remarkable journey of the potato from humble staple crop to the centerpiece of a Michelin-level dining experience.

    1938 Gutermann Trading Card #19 Antione Parmentier (1737-1813).
    Think Potato Institute Permanent Collection. Photo by Jeffrey Allen Price

    I installed a small 1938 trading card featuring Parmentier next to our table throughout the evening, ensuring that the evening’s honorary guest was present in spirit.

    Ilze Dimante speaking at Kartupelis Gardēdim. Photo courtesy of Cesis inside.

    Between courses, Ilze Dimante spoke about potato cultivation and research, while potato plants decorated every table in the restaurant. The evening beautifully connected science, agriculture, gastronomy, history, and culture through the humble potato.

    Potato Artist Jeffrey Allen Price interviewed by RETV. Photo courtesy of Sigita Kletniece

    After the dessert course, I had the opportunity to speak with chef Edgars Rubenis and ask a few questions about his remarkable creations. RETV was also present throughout the evening, interviewing participants and documenting what became one of the most memorable potato events I have ever attended.

    Michelin-star restaurant H.E. Vanadziņš Ziemeļu restorāns. Photo courtesy of Sigita Kletniece

    This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime potato experience. Congratulations to everyone who helped create it and to everyone fortunate enough to attend.

    Related Documentation:

    → Institute Chronicle: From Parmentier to Latvia: Potato for Gourmets on RETV

    Related Projects:

    → Kartupelis Gardēdim (Potato for Gourmets) (2024)

    → The Potato Ball (2016)

    → Open Feast: Potato Potluck (2012)

  • From Parmentier to Latvia: Potato for Gourmets on RETV

    A 2024 RETV news segment documented Kartupelis Gardēdim (Potato for Gourmets), a Michelin-level potato dinner conceived by Jeffrey Allen Price and realized with chef Edgars Rubenis in Cēsis, Latvia.

    Master Chef Edgars Rubenis on RETV, 2024

    There is a really great news story (in Latvian) by RETV about the “Potato for Gourmet” dinner that took place at Michelin Star restaurant H.E. Vanadziņš Ziemeļu restorāns on March 1, 2024. They interviewed the brilliant chef Edgars Rubenis and showed some excellent footage of the meal preparations and some of his finished Potato masterpieces. Includes a lot of images of the Potato plant decorations/accents provided by Ilze Dimante and an interview with Cesis inside director Sigita Kletniece, who enabled the Potato dinner event as liaison and moderator. They even interviewed Potato Artist, Džefrijs Alens Praiss (Jeffrey Allen Price), whose idea for the dinner was the seed that grew into this historic feast — a dining experience that even Parmentier would have been impressed and delighted by.

    Potato Artist, Džefrijs Alens Praiss (Jeffrey Allen Price) on RETV, 2024

    Related Projects:

    → Kartupelis Gardēdim (Potato for Gourmets) (2024)

    → The Potato Ball (2016)

    → Open Feast: Potato Potluck (2012)

  • We Say Potato At Islip Art Museum

    A brand-new version of our film in-progress THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO, is currently on view at the Islip Art Museum in the exhibition “Collaboration.” There is an Artist Reception, August 3 from 1-3pm. Thank you to my collaborator Juan Lopez Espantaleon for all the great work on this project so far, and for the installation photo. Also, a huge gratitude to the 100+ participants that have given their beautiful faces and unique languages and accents to this project. I hope you some of you can attend the reception Saturday.

    THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO film and poster on view at the Islip Art Museum, 2019. Photo courtesy Jeffrey Allen Price.

    The Art of Collaboration curated by Holly Gordon
    ISLIP ART MUSEUM
    at Brookwood Hall, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, NY 11730
    On view thru August 24, 2019.
    Museum hours:
    Tuesday through Friday 10am – 4pm
    Saturday 12pm – 4pm
    Closed Sunday and Monday

    Related Projects:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO (2016–Present)

    Related Timeline Entry:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO 2016 – TPI Timeline Entry

  • The Exhibition Ends, the Archive Begins

    Today I dismantled my JamaicaFlux installations after a rewarding three-month run. I am deeply grateful to curator Heng-Gil Han for the opportunity to participate and for producing such an outstanding catalog documenting the exhibition. Shown here are the eight pages dedicated to my projects, along with the catalog cover and expanded flaps.

    Congratulations to all of the artists who participated. It was a pleasure getting to know your work and to see the remarkable range of projects represented in the publication.

    Special thanks to Juan López Espantaleón and Dom Sindayiganza, whose photographs greatly enhanced the presentation of my work in the catalog. I would also like to thank co-curator Kalia Brooks and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning for their support, generosity, and commitment to making Jamaica Flux such a meaningful experience.

    While the installations have now been dismantled, the ideas, relationships, documentation, and projects that emerged from the residency continue to grow.

  • 100 Participants and Counting

    THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO at-home filming progress. We are nearly complete with our film’s first flagship segments SAYing, SINGing, SCEAMing Potato in different languages and accents from around the world.

    Today Juan and I filmed each other and our families for THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO and surpassed the 100 participants benchmark.

    Jeffrey Allen Price and Juan López Espantaleón filming one another during a 2019 recording session after surpassing 100 participants in the project.

    Related Projects:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO (2016–Present)

    Related Timeline Entry:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO 2016 – TPI Timeline Entry

    Film Coverage:

    2025 — The Spud Has Its Day in the Sun — The East Hampton Star

    2024 — MainPotRe during Vidzeme Innovation Week 2024— Interreg Baltic Sea Region

    2019 — The Art of Collaboration — The Islip Bulletin [PDF]

    Project Archive:

    → Official Facebook Page for THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO

  • We Always Learn Something New About Potatoes

    We always learn something new about potatoes when we film.

    Filming Anna Prikazchikova at Suffolk County Community College. Photo courtesy Camila De La Pava.

    During a recording session for THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO at Suffolk County Community College, participants shared potato folk remedies and traditions from around the world. We heard about using the steam from boiling potatoes to help relieve colds (Russia), potato slices for skincare and facial treatments (Jordan), and even potatoes reportedly used as diaphragms for birth control (Colombia).

    It was a fun and productive day of filming with participants from Russia, Pakistan, Colombia, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, and the United States. Every recording session added new stories, new languages, and new perspectives to the growing archive.

    Thanks to everyone who participated and to Camila De La Pava for the photograph.

    Related Projects:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO (2016–Present)

    Related Timeline Entry:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO 2016 – TPI Timeline Entry

    Project Archive:

    → Official Facebook Page for THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO

  • Seeking New Ways to Say Potato

    I am excited to announce that we will be filming again for THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO during select times in conjunction with the “POTASIA: Potatoism in the East” exhibition at The Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University (thru June 15, 2018). First day of filming is March 30 (Good Friday) from 11am-3pm. Please schedule an appointment if you would like to participate. We are giving priority to languages and dialects we have not recorded yet, but anyone with a sense of humor or a love of potatoes will be considered. We are still looking to interview people that speak German, Dutch, Italian, Arabic, Thai, and many Asian and African languages.

    If you would like to participate please contact info@thinkpotatoinstitute.org.

    Related Projects:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO (2016–Present)

    Related Timeline Entry:

    → THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO 2016 – TPI Timeline Entry

    Project Archive:

    → Official Facebook Page for THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO


  • Spuds Unwrapped

    The Food Network, Television Appearance, April 21, 2002

    Tonight I appeared on Food Network’s Unwrapped as part of a special potato-themed episode called Spuds Unwrapped. Seeing myself on national television talking about potatoes and performing was surreal. Host Marc Summers introduced me as a “Potato Artist” and called me “the potato’s number one fan.”

    The segment featured an installation of my potato collection, potato-themed artworks, and documentation from EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE, a performance organized with fellow graduate students at Stony Brook University. The event had originally been scheduled around a planned Food Network visit in September 2001. Following the events of September 11, it was unclear whether the production would continue at all. The title EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE reflected both that uncertainty and my belief that gathering people together through food, humor, and art felt especially important during that difficult moment.

    During the interview I talked about some of the reasons why I originally became interested in the potato, explaining:

    “I started finding all sorts of connections, anthropological connections, all around the world, folklore dealing with the potato. The global significance of the potato became something for me that I could attach to.”

    I also explained one of my favorite concepts:

    “The potato seems to be this unifying symbol of egalitarianism. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t eat potatoes.”

    The segment ended with Marc Summers holding one of the THINK POTATO t-shirts I had given him and saying:

    “Here’s one of Jeffrey’s works of art. Looks pretty cool.”

    Which made me laugh. Hopefully it might even lead to a few more sales of my potato t-shirt designs online.

    The potato continues to drive me and delight audiences. It has introduced me to people I never would have met, conversations I never would have had, and opportunities I never could have predicted. Tonight’s television appearance feels like the latest chapter in an ongoing project that keeps growing in unexpected directions. What began as a curiosity has somehow become a nationwide conversation

    Related Timeline Entry:

    → Featured on Food Network’s Spuds Unwrapped (2002)

    Related Exhibitions:

    → POTATOLAB (2002)
    → EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE (2001)