Results tagged “hepatitisc”

Last night, Savoy chef and local foods champion Peter Hoffman gave a presentation at the Museum of Natural History on the role of water in sustainable farming, in conjunction with the ongoing Water: H2O = Life exhibit (now through May 25). We missed it too, but found some similar upcoming events. Call it the Mr. Wizard meets Escoffier edition- these food happenings deal with the intersections of ingredients, science, and art.

The city's Health Department is investigating three hepatitis C infection in people who "received intravenous (IV) anesthesia from the same NYC-based anesthesiologist." Oh, dear. The incidents occurred in August of last year, and it seems like the anesthesia was given in an out-patient (not a hospital) facility. The DOH is contacting about 4,500 patients who received IV anesthesia between December 1, 2003 and May 1, 2007 at the 10 outpatient facilities the doctor worked in to recommend they get tested.

Caitlin Berrigan is a 25 year-old Brooklyn-based artist who chooses media such as fats, sugars, and proteins to address ideas and subjects that are often invisible to the naked eye. At Location One last month, Berrigan presented her Viral Confections project: ping pong ball-sized chocolate truffles she casts from a silicone mold created especially for the task. The truffles are made in the shape of the Hepatitis C virus. “These delicious truffles do not carry hepatitis C,” the artist’s website explains. “Each one was lovingly handmade from 72% Belgian roasted cocoa in attempt to befriend the virus.” Other Viral Confections installation pieces include large apothecary jars, decked out with a frilly, soothing variant of the biohazard logo, and filled with model boxed truffles; Berrigan conducts “tea parties” at installation sites, where the conversation inevitably tends toward illness, with exceptions like molecular biology shoptalk and empathy. During last month’s event, Berrigan’s hepatitis-shaped truffles were scarfed down before the conversation ever got started. “Within the first five minutes, this group of people came over and ate all the chocolates,” Berrigan says. “I think they were tourists. I was left with maybe six truffles, and they didn’t stay for the presentation.” The artist presented Viral Confections anyway, and talked about Hepatitis C, which affects 200 million people worldwide.