The “Grow Your Own… Life After Nature exhibition,” is an exhibit where cheeses are created using “microbial sketches” created with bacteria samples from various people’s body parts. Each cheese ends up smelling like the donor’s body odor.
“I’m really excited about things that sometimes are a little bit gross, a little bit disgusting,” microbiologist Christina Agapakis.
Agapakis and partner artist Sissell Tolaas said, “Many of the stinkiest cheeses are hosts to species of bacteria closely related to the bacteria responsible for the characteristic smells of human armpits or feet. Can knowledge and tolerance of bacterial cultures in our food improve tolerance of the bacteria on our bodies? How do humans cultivate and value bacterial cultures on cheeses and fermented foods? How will synthetic biology change with a better understanding of how species of bacteria work together in nature as opposed to the pure cultures of the lab?”
“This isn’t cheese for eating,” Agapakis said. “This is cheese for thinking.”