My Canteen in the City

My Canteen in the City: A Journey into the Heart of Street Food

Atelier Barda was selected for the exhibition “My Canteen in the City: A Journey into the Heart of Street Food” (Galerie VIA, Paris, October–November 2012) and for inclusion in the accompanying publication (Éditions Alternatives / Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, September 2013).

Contribution to the “United States” section

“Eating in the street is a universal and age-old practice that reflects the ingenuity people have always shown in finding simple and quick ways to eat. While this practice has never disappeared in many parts of the world, it is now re-emerging or gaining new momentum elsewhere, reflecting at once the extent of economic hardship, an attachment to threatened customs and cultural values, the increasing mobility of ‘homo urbanicus,’ a desire to revitalize public space, and even a growing freedom from collective norms—or, quite simply, the pleasure of eating here and now.

Through an accumulation of photographic accounts, the journey we propose suggests infinite variations on a theme at a global scale. It focuses particularly on the diversity of expressions of this activity through its economic, cultural and technical dimensions.”

Michel Bouisson (VIA) – Fiona Meadows (Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine) – Publication Directors and Exhibition Curators