Recipes for Disaster

In 1973, artist Salvador Dalí published his surrealist cookbook Les Dîners de Gala, a lavish and grotesque commentary on culinary tradition as “the most delicate symbol of true civilization.”

Upon entering the book, the reader encounters a warning: “If you are a disciple of…eating [as] a form of punishment, close this book at once; it is too lively, too aggressive, and far too impertinent for you.”

While Les Dîners de Gala projects a fantasy of seduction and repulsion, Alena Ploski’s Recipes for Disaster captures an absurdity far grander than anything Dalí could imagine- reality itself. A political commentary visually formatted as an alternative ‘cookbook’, Ploski has taken the year’s most disastrous events, compiling a recipe book of her own.

“The idea for this book came from my frustration with the seemingly bleak and chaotic state of the world in the past few years” explains Ploski. Taking articles directly from news sites, Ploski “shot and styled the accompanying images using mostly edible props, as a somewhat cynical response to each article.”

Redesigning our visual consumption of history, Ploski’s Recipes for Disaster includes the most necessary ingredient of our time- humor.

For more of Ploski’swork visit her website and Instagram page.