 A bare space with plastic tables and chairs. Large windows overlooking the parking lot. Elderly people bent over their burgers. A menu that doesn’t show a sign of attractiveness. But I promised M.A. we would try it. To have lunch at Wendy’s.
I choose the options with the most vegetables. A hot potato with creamy cheese and broccoli sauce. A ceasar salad consisting of plain roma with three sprinkles of parmesan. And a chocolate milkshake which serves as dessert. It tastes like crap. We feel like crap. We both leave with a headache. No more Wendy’s for us.
Back home I am reading work of sensory ethnographist Sarah Pink and I wonder ‘why did it make me feel bad?’ Which senses made me completely reject this place? And, more interestingly: how do my senses play a role in being so excited about ethical fashion?
Was it the scent of sugared rose buds in my mineral water I can still recall from my visit to Linda Loudermilk’s atelier in L.A.? Is it the touch of soft bamboo on my skin every time I wear ModaFusion lingerie? Were it the many innovative products I have seen over the years? Was it the funky beat of the final fashion show at EFS Paris last year? Or maybe the organic lunch I enjoyed many years ago in the garden of brothers Dru and Gav, founders of THTC? Or the feeling of fertile soil caressing my fingers standing in an organic cotton field? Or the sound of insects who have not been killed by pesticides in that same field, in the heart of Turkey? Or is it maybe all of these sensory experiences that make me so passionate about our eco fashion world.
As for food: I think I’ll stick to Karyn’s motto of ‘not eating anything that has ingredients in it I don’t understand’. It makes me much happier. And healthier.
Image: wendys
Kim's blogpost was first published on her blog on ecofashionworld.
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