Experimental Cooking
Marcel: I was wondering what job you have. Didn't you say it was in a hospital?
Hal: Yes Marcel, I work in a large hospital that employs 5,000 people. I make nutritional formulas for critically-ill patients. This job has greatly influenced my audio work.
M: In what way?
H: In the sense of mixing elements together into concoctions. I have worked in some form of food service for all of my adult life, as have many other audio artists I have known! I worked as a cook in various restaurants for 15 years or so before my job at the hospital. Cooking appeals to me as a job because it is creative. It is all about working with raw materials to create something for the senses. Artists are drawn to this kind of work not only because it is a creative job, but because it is an occupation which allows them to avoid a "respectable" career. I have never been interested in having a career. I don't want to waste my brain-energy on it. Food service jobs are often difficult, but at the end of the work-day you can come home and not have to think about it any more. I have met some very interesting people while working in restaurants; many of them have been "outsiders", weirdos, punks, hippies, carnies, Jesus freaks, iconoclastic individuals, and artistic types. These people can kind of hide away from society in food service jobs. Partying with these people was always a trip! I have many interesting, weird stories from long ago about doing drugs on the job with some of the people I worked with!
The connection between food & cooking and audio art is a strong one for me. Often, when I cook for myself, I will make big stews or soups composed of many different food items. Experimental cooking? Many of the things that I cook are based on improvisation. My cooking methods are based on intuition and the end-results are variable. I love surprises in my cooking pot. Over the years I have taught myself basic principles of food art. One of my favorite things to cook is a mixed vegetable curry. The results are different each time, depending on what I have on hand to work with, and what I choose to use and include. I start out with some basics. I warm some peanut oil in a large cooking pot. Next I almost always add some chopped onion and garlic, and sea salt. After sauteeing the onions and garlic, I add other seasonings in varying amounts and according to my whim: ginger, cumin, black mustard seeds, turmeric, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, etc. But sometimes I won't include the ginger, or the cinnamon. Sometimes I'll use whole cumin seeds; other times I use ground cumin. Sometimes I won't add the mustard seeds or the coriander. I choose between ground cayenne or whole cayenne chili pods. And so forth. Carrots and potatoes are favorite vegetables of mine, so I almost always use those in the mixed vegetable curry. But the other vegetables I choose to use are not the same from one batch to the next. I often add chopped bell pepper, but sometimes not. Other possibilities are cauliflower, broccoli, beans, peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, squash, cabbage, etc. Sometimes I might add chicken, if I have some in my refrigerator. These choices are based on what I have on hand, or what I am in the mood for. I don't measure out the ingredients, but I usually "eyeball it". Sometimes I add more of one ingredient than I did the last time I made the dish. I have a general idea of how the dish will turn out as I am cooking it, from the smells and the way it looks. When I put the first spoonful in my mouth it is always something new, something I've never experienced in exactly that way before. This is the way my audio compositions are! The results are variable. The possible outcomes are innumerable. But once I have mastered it all down to tape or CDR there is a certain inevitabilty to it -- it could not have turned out, could not have sounded, any other way!
When I was a kid I was a Boy Scout and I went to many big "jamborees" (camping outings) attended by hundreds of kids. Often the kids were asked to bring one can of soup -- all of these different kinds/varieties soups were combined together in one big pot -- and then served to the kids after it was cooked -- and it was delicious!
Also, in the early 1900s in the U.S. there were people known as hobos, who were transient, homeless people who rode around the country, hitching rides illegally on trains. They would often gather together in big hobo camps. Each hobo contributed whatever little piece of food he had -- a potato, a carrot, a cabbage, a piece of meat, an onion, a turnip, etc. and all of these different items were mixed together in a community pot to make what was known as "Mulligan Stew". The cook who mixed the stew was known as the "Mulligan Mixer". My upcoming Collage-Mania project will be like an audio Mulligan Stew, and I will be the Mulligan Mixer.
Food for thought?!
Hal: Yes Marcel, I work in a large hospital that employs 5,000 people. I make nutritional formulas for critically-ill patients. This job has greatly influenced my audio work.
M: In what way?
H: In the sense of mixing elements together into concoctions. I have worked in some form of food service for all of my adult life, as have many other audio artists I have known! I worked as a cook in various restaurants for 15 years or so before my job at the hospital. Cooking appeals to me as a job because it is creative. It is all about working with raw materials to create something for the senses. Artists are drawn to this kind of work not only because it is a creative job, but because it is an occupation which allows them to avoid a "respectable" career. I have never been interested in having a career. I don't want to waste my brain-energy on it. Food service jobs are often difficult, but at the end of the work-day you can come home and not have to think about it any more. I have met some very interesting people while working in restaurants; many of them have been "outsiders", weirdos, punks, hippies, carnies, Jesus freaks, iconoclastic individuals, and artistic types. These people can kind of hide away from society in food service jobs. Partying with these people was always a trip! I have many interesting, weird stories from long ago about doing drugs on the job with some of the people I worked with!
The connection between food & cooking and audio art is a strong one for me. Often, when I cook for myself, I will make big stews or soups composed of many different food items. Experimental cooking? Many of the things that I cook are based on improvisation. My cooking methods are based on intuition and the end-results are variable. I love surprises in my cooking pot. Over the years I have taught myself basic principles of food art. One of my favorite things to cook is a mixed vegetable curry. The results are different each time, depending on what I have on hand to work with, and what I choose to use and include. I start out with some basics. I warm some peanut oil in a large cooking pot. Next I almost always add some chopped onion and garlic, and sea salt. After sauteeing the onions and garlic, I add other seasonings in varying amounts and according to my whim: ginger, cumin, black mustard seeds, turmeric, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, etc. But sometimes I won't include the ginger, or the cinnamon. Sometimes I'll use whole cumin seeds; other times I use ground cumin. Sometimes I won't add the mustard seeds or the coriander. I choose between ground cayenne or whole cayenne chili pods. And so forth. Carrots and potatoes are favorite vegetables of mine, so I almost always use those in the mixed vegetable curry. But the other vegetables I choose to use are not the same from one batch to the next. I often add chopped bell pepper, but sometimes not. Other possibilities are cauliflower, broccoli, beans, peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, squash, cabbage, etc. Sometimes I might add chicken, if I have some in my refrigerator. These choices are based on what I have on hand, or what I am in the mood for. I don't measure out the ingredients, but I usually "eyeball it". Sometimes I add more of one ingredient than I did the last time I made the dish. I have a general idea of how the dish will turn out as I am cooking it, from the smells and the way it looks. When I put the first spoonful in my mouth it is always something new, something I've never experienced in exactly that way before. This is the way my audio compositions are! The results are variable. The possible outcomes are innumerable. But once I have mastered it all down to tape or CDR there is a certain inevitabilty to it -- it could not have turned out, could not have sounded, any other way!
When I was a kid I was a Boy Scout and I went to many big "jamborees" (camping outings) attended by hundreds of kids. Often the kids were asked to bring one can of soup -- all of these different kinds/varieties soups were combined together in one big pot -- and then served to the kids after it was cooked -- and it was delicious!
Also, in the early 1900s in the U.S. there were people known as hobos, who were transient, homeless people who rode around the country, hitching rides illegally on trains. They would often gather together in big hobo camps. Each hobo contributed whatever little piece of food he had -- a potato, a carrot, a cabbage, a piece of meat, an onion, a turnip, etc. and all of these different items were mixed together in a community pot to make what was known as "Mulligan Stew". The cook who mixed the stew was known as the "Mulligan Mixer". My upcoming Collage-Mania project will be like an audio Mulligan Stew, and I will be the Mulligan Mixer.
Food for thought?!