TASTING LAND - A gustatory approach to 3 Landscape Architecture Projects
Babies learn the world around them by putting things in their mouths. Through texture and flavour, taste can tell us what something is made of (people who study the soil will often taste it to understand its material-chemical composition). Taste can also indicate where something has come from: the ground it has grown in, the lands, histories, cultures and climates that have produced it. French wine-makers call this terroir. And just as with the senses of smell and touch, taste (of air, water, food) contaminates our bodies with the materials of these landscapes, just as it forms and triggers powerful memories.
Historically water-rich and fertile, the district of Horta-Guinardó has been an area for the growing of produce since Roman times. Our tour will start at the Laberint d’Horta (Horta Labyrinth), part of a former estate and now one of the oldest remaining gardens in Barcelona. From there, we will visit the neighbourhood of La Clota, discovering remnants of its agricultural past, from old farmhouses to the arboreal descendants of former orchards to present-day allotments and vegetable gardens. We will end with a visit to one of Barcelona’s 50 seasonal chestnut stands. With the taste of sweet chestnut in our mouths, we will consider what it means to know landscapes and ground through taste, especially of places inaccessible to our other senses.
Starting point:
Meeting point: Entrance to Laberint d’Horta Park (Mundet Metro Station L3) at 10:00 am
Duration: from 10:00 am to 11:40
Total Distance: 3.30km
Time walking: 36 min
