Food Creation, headed by food artist Ayako Suwa, held a one-day-only food performance called "Guerrilla Restaurant" at the Isetan Shinjuku store on March 7th. A special space was set up in the store's third-floor West Park, decorated in a unified black and pink theme, in keeping with the store's fashion direction theme for this season: "High Impact Pink." Dining tables were set up in front of the store, and 10 lucky customers entered one by one. At the appointed time, a drum roll suddenly sounded throughout the store, stopping passersby in their tracks. Suwa Ayako, head of the food creation team, appeared with a trumpet player to kick off the event. The full course meal, "Taste the Emotions, Savored with the Senses," consisted of six dishes. Bite-sized dishes, each representing a different emotion, were served. "Taste the Surprising Joy and the Unconcealable Joy," featured white chocolate adorned with purple chrysanthemum petals and popping candy. The menu included "Despair," made with white cotton candy sprinkled with white pepper and sea bream paste; "Instant Rage," created by spraying emotional essence into the mouth with a perfume bottle spray; "Uncontrollable Jealousy," a glossy caramel-like flavor on top of purple powder; and "Exhilaration," a combination of cashew nuts and black olives. At the Guerrilla Restaurant, participants were required to pick up a dish and eat it in one bite at the signal from the chef, "Please enjoy," and savor the experience with all five senses. While each dish's appearance offered no clues as to what it would taste like, the flavor and texture seemed to change over time. Participants exchanged glances with the person next to them and showed expressions of surprise after each bite. It truly seemed like a meal that stimulated all five senses.
Food was served by models clad in unique costumes, with the cooperation of brands such as ANREALAGE and TARO HORIUCHI.
To commemorate the first anniversary of the restaurant's remodel, Ayako Suwa created a work themed around "high-impact pink." Six photographs from her series, titled "Scent of Woman," were exhibited, and scarves printed with the works were also available for limited sale.
Ayako Suwa is a food artist whose work is centered on conveying new values in food, neither as gourmet food nor as a source of nutrition or energy. After graduating from Kanazawa College of Art, she founded "Food Creation" in 2006. In 2008, she held her first solo exhibition, titled "Design of Appetite," at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. "Guerrilla Restaurant" has previously been held in Paris, Berlin, Singapore, Hong Kong, Fukuoka, Tokyo and other cities, and this will be the first time it has been held in Tokyo in three years since its first event in October 2010.
