CCDN 371. Design+Culture.

It seems there’s no shortage of photographer interest in fast food, and Sally Davies‘ recent McDonald’s Happy Meal Project suggests that eating only foods that will eventually rot may be easier said than done.

On 10 April, 2010 she purchased a fresh McDonald’s Happy Meal and she’s been photographing it regularly ever since. After 180 days there was very little sign of decay – apparently because it is so “fatty, salty and practically empty of nutrients.”

But if you think that’s a long time, Karen Hanrahan has kept a McDonald’s hamburger since 1996!

That’s it on the left; the one on the right is from 2008.

Scary but kinda awesome too, right?

And just in case all this has inspired you to start your own burger collection, here are some DIY instructions.

Please don’t forget to email me a good quality image of your photo book and a one sentence description of your new project. Thanks!

Also, a few things I’ve come across recently that you might find interesting:

DIY Meat Head

This is Your Brain on Food
“Is coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol, cocoa, or marijuana a nutrient or a drug?”

Sweet Memories: How Jelly Belly Invents Flavors
“Flavor and scent are beloved for their ability to bring back memories long buried in the sensory deluge…The flavor designers at the Jelly Belly Candy Company make it their business to speak this sensory language, and, through a process alternately technical and zany, to suss out exactly what it is that makes those tastes—and by extension, those memories—jump.”

A real table for my imaginary family
“Building a table for Thanksgiving, I was armed with power saw and a dream. It wouldn’t be nearly enough.”

Get Gyro. Chef Anthony Bourdain’s new graphic novel is “about ultraviolent food nerds. It’s a gourmet slaughterfest.”

Visualizing Nutrition: American Food Consumption, Soft Drink Industry Structure, New Orleans’ Gumbo, Global Seed Industry Structure, Obesity and Hunger: Partners?