MY mouth was watering as I took the lift to the Goethe-Institut's exhibition entitled Foodscape II, a combination of poetry and photography that was sending this food lover's pulse racing in anticipation of indulgent, sensuous interpretations of food and drink.
After all, I had read some of Leung Ping-kwan's poetry before: '. . . In the morning, a bowl of white yoghurt swimming with Papayas Mangoes Bananas . . .' (Breakfast In Soho) or '. . . The mild-mannered carrot and passionate pepper are tangling. If you don't like sweet florets go for the bitter chilli . . .' (Green Salad).
But, in fact, this visual and literary marriage of poetry and food was presented on a deeper and more abstract level than I had anticipated. No bright colours or pictures of plump pears.
Hong Kong-based artist and designer Lee Ka-sing and poet Leung collaborated on the project. Both use food as a starting block to explore issues such as cultural identity, social history and current affairs of Chinese people.
The show is an ongoing cultural project. Foodscape I was exhibited in Vancouver in 1997. More images and poems are included in Hong Kong's Foodscape II and the artists plan to expand the themes for phase III for Macau's Arts Festival in February 1999.
'We wanted to use food to connect cities and culture. Food is very close to Chinese people,' said Leung, who also writes under the pen name of 'Ye-si'.