Based on the MECAHF Project report – Food for Healthcare, public procurement accounts for 19% of Europe’s GDP (more than €2.3 trillion annually), and the recommendation for a significant impact on food sustainability is to resource more seasonal and local ingredients. Fresher foods in season also taste better, potentially reducing food waste. 

 Seasons of the Mouth attempts to embed the idea of phenology into the hospital foods practice. Phenology studies seasonal changes in plants and animals – budding, flowering and leaf colouring in plants, and the emergence and migration of animals. Gentle observation and witnessing document the rhythms of the ecosystem and detect any cautious changes or extinction, hence a critical method for ecological grief.

The process engaged out/in-patient children and catering staff in the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. A set of creative activities accommodated conversations around the understanding of seasons, favourite seasonal foods and food memories of participating children. Aided by the palette of seasonal food ingredients, these conversations also imagined the season-sensitive menus for the hospital food provision. 

However, it was heartbreaking attending to the worrying voices of kitchen staff who try their best to include seasonal local foods in the menu yet feel overpowered by the impact of the exploitative global foods trade. Although their capacity to bring fundamental changes feels limited by much larger systematic culpability, their compassion for sustainable food practices has been explicit by introducing various cultural celebrations. So do most children identify seasonal foods through festivities and celebrations! 

It is one good learning as most sustainability narratives are often heavily carbon footprint-centred, with a lack of recognition of diversity as a critical factor for creative and healthy community-led solutions. Here, the remit of phenological practice expands from observation of ecological cycles to embodied seasonal encounters in rituals, folklores, and the joy of food sharing.

* Culminated in a video ‘Seasons of the Mouth’, exhibited in the GOSH corridor.

* Commissioned by GOSH Arts (2023).