Buro Miso is a speculative diplomatic outpost that retroactively positions miso at the centre of global agro-industrial imagination. A blend of beans, grains, Aspergillus oryzae fungi and salt, miso ferments for up to three years. It adds vital nutrients, protein and a delicious umami flavour to a plant-based diet, requires no refrigeration, and inspires a modest, less destructive food culture. Miso has immense potential for positive change because you eat beans directly rather than feed them to cattle first, cook with time rather than fossil fuels and collaborate with fungi rather than disinfect.
From 1641 to 1845, the Netherlands was the only Western nation permitted to trade with Japan, operating from the artificial island of Dejima. Dutch merchants traded in silver, wood, porcelain and silk, yet they never brought miso to the West. But what if they had? Could miso, rather than meat, have shaped the global food system – prioritising harmony over growth, cooperation over competition, generation over extraction? Would the environmental crisis exist as it does today? Can we retrofit miso into the centre of our collective food culture?
Buro Miso presents miso as a metaphor for renewed wisdom, embracing valuable traditions while recognising that we can no longer afford to ignore what is good in the other, both human and non-human. Together we are the miso.
As a symbol of our speculative diplomatic ambitions, Buro Miso invites local food producer Hiro Koizumi and local miso producers to create miso using Dutch fava beans from the Van der Weele family’s farm in the Netherlands, combined with koji fungus, rice and salt from the Kobe area. The miso will be presented in speculative pottery and furniture.
Team
Arne Hendriks – artist and artistic research
Hiro Koizumi – rice farmer and future miso maker
Cor van der Weele – bean farmer and philosopher
Mily Bogaarts – pottery design
Josef Zappe – furniture design
Verily Klaassen – Rabobank Art Lab
Events
Part of the showcase Rethinking Innovation (13 April–5 May) in the Event Space of the Dutch Pavilion.
A talk show will take place on 20 April, 15:00–17:00, also in the Event Space.