Instant Ramen Cook - off

During the closure of most non-essential businesses, the Spanish government stepped in to cover some of the salaries lost to the workers by these measures. Last fall it started to become evident, that these supports would only irregularly be transferred with no explanation given by the authorities. Some months would be paid, while others would leave the workers stranded with no entitlement to unemployment benefits, since they were technically still employed. At the same time evictions and distraint orders were executed as usual. The Instant Ramen Cook-Off was an attempt to turn this reality, many of the participants are directly affected by, into something theatrical. We used the framework of a gameshow to mediate and to make bearable this very real housing and food insecurity. Ramen was chosen for its almost meme like qualities for talking about food insecurity. Each team hat two bags of Chicken Flavored Demae Ramen and a budget of 10 Euros to prepare a meal for 6 people. The dishes were rated by look, taste, feel, originality of ingredients and likelihood of it being a googled recipe. The winning team would be awarded a month's ration of instant ramen. The contest was documented as a pdf cook book.