MIT MEDIA LAB

SCOOP, CHEW, SWALLOW, REPEAT

advised by Kent Larson, Luis Alonso, Gabriela Bila, and Kaiho Yu

with Moctar Fall and Jason Leo

SCOOP, CHEW, SWALLOW, REPEAT is a speculative film where food and dining are controlled by a governing body in the form of an artificial cloud that reshapes humans’ olfactory perception and alters their experience in food and dining. The short film follows the journey of the protagonist in rediscovering their connection to food traditionally served by the last surviving restaurant in the city.

Projecting based on the current trajectory of our technological and political development, there is a possibility that capitalism would evolve with the aid of scientific advances. Additionally, the rate of reproduction is likely to increase, while on the flip side, the resources to feed the rapidly increasing population might go the other way around. This could result in the need to optimize both human and food resources. To control the population, the governing agency uses gene-editing technology to infuse the city with artificial fog that prevents how an individual smells, which inevitably alters their experience in food consumption.