The Soft Protest Digest is a research collective associating Danish farmer and artist Nickie Sigurdsson with Adel Cersaque.

Answering to the invitation of Corridor project space to take part in its “Side dish” program, The Soft Protest Digest put together a 3 course dinner followed by a week exhibition titled: “The Soft Protest, re-chewing & Digest”. The event was centered around the collaboration between the cow and the grass, working as agents for recycling and storing carbondioxide (CO2) in the ecosystem of the soil:

The re-distribution of CO2 from the atmosphere into the soil, mediated by the cow and the grass as part of the carbon cycle, could play a part in reversing climatic issues; while also answering to two controversial and often appraised subjects, the cow and greenhouse gases. Today in North Holland, the cow is mainly valued for its milk, but what if it would be valued for the work it was doing while grazing? What if the cow was seen as a beneficial actor of the ecosystem? The grazing cow could help consume biomass, fostering regrowth and carbon storage, prevent wild fires, regulate hydrology, conserve grasslands’s biodiversity and pollinators, spreading of seeds, organic matter and nutrients, etc. The research collective would like to speculate and partake in the future of the cow, the essential actor of the dutch’s food culture.

The dinner, which gathered 40 guests, was set around short talks on topics such as:
♦ The history of the dutch dairy industry and the impact of its lobbies; ♦ How does CO2 contribute to a healthy ecosystem and how to store it back into the soil? ♦ From grass to nutrients, a journey into ruminants digestive system; ♦ On CO2 grazing cows, an interview with Corneel van Rijn, dutch organic dairy farmer, involved in the “Agricultural European Innovation Partnership”; ♦ The conservation of milk in India; ♦ 3 scenarios: the possible futures of the cow.
To get a glimpse of those various topics, listen to “What about CO2 grazing cows?” podcast.

The food was produced in collaboration with chef’s duo Axe&Porridge, and each dish was illustrating the previous topics:
Grutto, weidevogel ♦ A soft cheese, matured in house and slowly smoked in hay; and a medium aged Dutch cheese. Served with a hand kneaded sourdough loaf, this dish was named after the national pasture-bird of the Netherlands.
Rumen, digestive system ♦ Mimicking a cow’s stomach, this Polish ravioli called pierogi filled with mushrooms, celeriac and dill could also be eaten with real cooked veal stomach and tongue.
Het Groene Hart ♦ This sweet dessert displaying 3 types of khoa was made without any sweetener: the only sugar comes from the milk, extracted by the cow from the grass.