FREQUENT BIGODE
QUESTIONS
history | economics | telos | art | about the author
the book was written and produced through ankur shah. the production, notably, took me more time than the writing. perhaps because the former transpired in pacific washington state and the latter in that human jungle we know as la india.
the book is based on the recipes that amanda and i developed and served from the kitchen of O Bigode, a post-capitalist experiment in community experience originally conceived of as 'the Brazil Solution'. we cooked a different menu every day, running the gamut in cuisine and technique.
though each edition retains the right to its own acknowledgements, they all share a collective debt to the members of O Bigode collective (perhaps 30 in number), the people of Aratuba (perhaps 1000 in number), and the AMAZON, which had been guiding me all along (the Brazil Solution came to me in a dream).
if you are interested in distribution of extant editions or the production of a new one, so am I.
editions will vary and the basic concept is for the book to be licensed under the creative commons protocol. my general economical mindset could be termed 'post-capitalist', 'gandhian', 'burning-man', or 'krishnic' -- to the degree my blossoming faith allows i will give the work away with joy in its proliferation, substuting my expectations of immediate/linear renumeration with faith that Amazon will meet my needs.
the book is being gifted under the auspices of somethingconstructive.net, a hypothetical disorganization twisted around some friends of the family. it, i trust, will gel as necessary.
the idea in offering the book without a fixed price is not to make you uncomfortable or tempt you into "stealing". nor is it to guilt you into large donations (though they would be nice). the point is to bring awareness to our economic choices, to interrogate the notion of value, and to experiment with how it feels to give without expectation to receiving in return.
hence, we give a recommended price for those to whom "economy of gift" translates as "headache". but for those of you, ready to play, do so! send us whatever you want! send us fruit. send us a letter about how deciding on a price was difficult. send us some of your art! send us nothing but the postage! send us everything!
another motivating factor in this pricing scheme is to encourage dialogue. if you are confused, share your confusion. write to us. we are humans, not mere operators with pocket calculators. we learn together.
my goal in distributing the book is, naturally, nothing short of total revolution. total revolution means a deep and immediate (cf. the Amazon) global understanding of the one-love consciousness within us all (including plastic). like any other sizeable task, i have no attachment to witnessing personally its conclusion and a clear understanding that it must be attempted slowly, one elephant at a time.
here, my elephants are dual --
a) materially, to arm revolutionary soldiers (never forget) with the knowledge they need to subvert the dead food system and provide honest nurturing (transcending and including nutritious) food to their loved ones, known and unknown.
b) spiritu-psychologically, to condition cooks into trusting their instincts, their inner genius, their own style of cuisine. it's both our easiest and hardest task to love ourselves, to trust ourselves, to remember that we have been god/Amazon all along, and -- descending to the practical -- we all still love each other when the rice burns to shit.
max edleson provided the original artwork after ignoring my pleas and pressure to visit O Bigode in person. he was the most enthusiastic and supportive influence I had (outside of matt/ankur). the process of writing and (larger)-self-publishing cooking com bigode has convinced me of that other, known, fraction of the communal Wisdom -- nothing successful (existence = success) happens alone.
furthermore, no existence does so without the grace -- I mean this literally, through all the travails of weather, travel, writer's block, and harddisk failure -- of some (co/i)nspiratory power much larger and calmer than our narrow body-fragments could hope to contain.
if you want stickers of his (max's) art, you can make some. i recommended the people at stickerguy without hesistation and rationale.
ankur shah lives at the lost mountain observatory with occassional jaunts to the otherside. feel free to email ideas, questions, criticisms, or artwork to
ankurbhai at mangolandia dot net
or send postcards and fruit to
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ankur shah
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mangolandia, which keeps tabs on ankur.
Ankur traveled around the world until dizziness took over, observing humans and their cultures in california, france, argentina, cuba, new york, lebanon, brasil, and india. he once studied mathematics and philosophy at stanford university and subsequently held formal jobs as a chef, farmer, teacher, and computer programmer. he is licensed reverend and soi-disant "revolutionary of love".
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