Sour

Dunja Salecl

Potato masher

Material:
Stainless steel and plastic
Description:

The stainless steel masher is mounted on a plastic handle with the name of the manufacturer - PEDRINI.

Size:
26 x 10 cm
Age:
21 years
Method of acquisition:
Received as a gift in 1999
Item owner, age and purchase:
Dunja Salecl
, 40,
Maribor
Date of completion:
16. 4. 2024
Story:
In 1999, during my first year as a student in Ljubljana, my mother gave me a collection of kitchen items for Christmas. The gift included a potato masher, a Tefal pan with a lid, some kitchen towels, and Koziol salad utensils. She believed it was high time I owned some cooking equipment. As someone who despised cooking, I was deeply disappointed. The only item I remotely appreciated was the bright blue salad cutlery, as it sported the brand name, which seemed impressive at the time.Initially, I thought the gift was a tasteless joke. When I realized it wasn't, I felt insulted but still packed the items and took them with me to Ljubljana. In defiance, I told my mother I had no intention of using any of her gifts. However, we all know what happens when we say "never ever," right? The cooking gear quickly became the heart of my student kitchen, and with it, my first culinary attempts began.Over time, the pan wore out, the towels tore, and the salad utensils got lost. Yet, the potato masher survived. After 21 years, it remains in use and is the oldest kitchen utensil in my home. The taste I associate with the masher has nothing to do with the food it prepares but with the object itself. To me, it represents a sour apple I had no choice but to bite into.
Back to the gallery
Dunja Salecl

Potato masher

Material:
Stainless steel and plastic
Description:

The stainless steel masher is mounted on a plastic handle with the name of the manufacturer - PEDRINI.

Size:
26 x 10 cm
Age:
21 years
Method of acquisition:
Received as a gift in 1999
Item owner, age and address:
Dunja Salecl
, 40,
Maribor
Date of completion:
16. 4. 2024
Story:
In 1999, during my first year as a student in Ljubljana, my mother gave me a collection of kitchen items for Christmas. The gift included a potato masher, a Tefal pan with a lid, some kitchen towels, and Koziol salad utensils. She believed it was high time I owned some cooking equipment. As someone who despised cooking, I was deeply disappointed. The only item I remotely appreciated was the bright blue salad cutlery, as it sported the brand name, which seemed impressive at the time.Initially, I thought the gift was a tasteless joke. When I realized it wasn't, I felt insulted but still packed the items and took them with me to Ljubljana. In defiance, I told my mother I had no intention of using any of her gifts. However, we all know what happens when we say "never ever," right? The cooking gear quickly became the heart of my student kitchen, and with it, my first culinary attempts began.Over time, the pan wore out, the towels tore, and the salad utensils got lost. Yet, the potato masher survived. After 21 years, it remains in use and is the oldest kitchen utensil in my home. The taste I associate with the masher has nothing to do with the food it prepares but with the object itself. To me, it represents a sour apple I had no choice but to bite into.
Back to the gallery

We invite you to summon the muses to the Museum of Flavors by thinking about the flavors in your life—at and away from the table; and remember the moments you associate with a particular taste.

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Colors

Tastes in correlation with colors carry a certain logic of bipolarity in the sense that they are polarized into opposites. Thus, sweet correlates with salty, sour with bitter, and umami with kokumi.

 

dr. hc Vojko Pogačar, academic painter

Salty
Bitter
Sweet
Sour
Spicy

Music

First, we chose the instruments: for the "salty" guitar (Astrid Kukovič), for the "bitter" piano (Sašo Vollmaier), for the "sour" harmonica (Dominik Cvitanič), for the "burning" violin (Andreja Klinc) and for the "sweet" flute (Asia Grauf). Melodies were created spontaneously. "Bitter" improvisations are low and legato, "salty" more decisive, articulate, "sour" high and dissonant, while "sweet" ones are unison, slow and soft.

 

Asja Grauf, professor of flute

Salty
Bitter
Sweet
Sour
Spicy

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF TASTE

An important mission of modern museums is to connect the past with the present, implement new approaches for the cultivation of new generations and work in favor of culture and society in general. We invite you to read the personal stories of people who have contributed their objects to the Museum of Taste, and at the same time let this be an invitation to participate in the project yourself.

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© Maribor Regional Museum

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