BOMPAS AND PARR

Nike Celestial Lunch by Bompas & Parr. Photo credit: Chris Lee

FEASTING ON THE STARS

A celestial lunch cooking with plasma, the fourth state of matter - London, March 2015

Bompas & Parr curated a Celestial Lunch especially for Nike, with a theme chosen as a direct celebration of what the brand represents: the future.

This culinary experience was influenced by futuristic literature and pop culture combined with the latest real science, technology and an overarching fascination with the future's potential.

We looked at the future of food by allowing diners to feast on a meal cooked with plasma – the fourth state of matter and the energy that stars are made of (see: Eliezer and Eliezer, 2001; Mondal, 2015). It is possible to cultivate plasma in a restaurant setting with a highly customised microwave. To harness this energy, Bompas & Parr partnered with Dr. Andrew C. Wright, a consultant in Advanced Materials and Processing located in Manchester, to bring plasma to the dining table for the first time ever. The celestial meal was further supported by other dishes inspired by the future of food and the gustatory implications of the forthcoming space tourism industry. The menu featured sci- fi starters, food cooked with plasma, and ultraviolet jellies served with coffee that had travelled to space and back.

COOKING WITH PLASMA

Gas Plasma – the fourth state of matter – exists naturally as lightning flashes and as stars such as our sun burn (Eliezer and Eliezer, 2001). Gas atoms, stripped of a few electrons by the application of strong electric fields, enter a plasma state and become highly excited, displaying vivid colours (ibid.). The temperatures of gas plasmas can range from less than 100 degrees Celsius to the many millions at the sun’s centre (ibid.).

Gas plasma will – if technology permits – be the almost unlimited power source of the future, as a product of nuclear fusion (ibid.). The extreme temperatures and pressures required to achieve nuclear fusion will stretch mankind’s ingenuity to its limit.

Here we presented subdued gas plasma within the humble domestic microwave by way of a vacuum pump and a quartz chamber. When the microwave is activated, the radiation creates a charged atmosphere inside the vacuum quartz chamber, turning what was air into plasma, instantly creating an intense heat of 1,200 Celsius inside the chamber.

In modifying this microwave oven, Dr. Andrew Wright has developed a brand-new cooking technique that creates and manipulates the fourth state.

References

Eliezer, S., & Eliezer, Y., (2001). The fourth state of matter: an introduction to plasma science 2nd ed., Bristol: Institute of Physics.

Mondal, N.N., (2015). Does the fifth state of matter originate the early universe. Journal of Physical Science and Application, 5(6), pp.407-414.