"My personal trainer used to call me the Tasmanian devil."

Unlike those times when one was happy just to have ENOUGH on the plate, today it’s not about

SURVIVING as much as it is about LONGEVITY. Not the quantity, but the quality. Based on the

belief of “singularity” and its scientific context, several years ago Riva-Melissa Tez decided to pursue the

CRON diet.

At the age of 23 Riva had already founded two companies, today, amongst other enterprises, she currently

teaches at the Design Akademie Berlin as an artificial intelligence specialist. 

An interview

about immortality, the balancing result of apple cider vinegar shots, and the placebo effect.

Read the interview after the jump. 

You are 23, but have already started two

businesses. You are currently working on a new

start-up. Tell me a little more about this.

During my years at school

 I was always very interested in philosophy. 

When I was 14 I began to seriously

debate religious pressures at school and would skip days to attend humanist lectures in London. Luckily my parents were quite chilled out, although at one point I was hosting a secret online atheist radio show from bedroom. I was always interested in classical thinkers- I will always love Plato, and also now in science-tech writers like Ray Kurzweil and Seth Lloyd.

After school I studied Philosophy at UCL.

 I always loved kids, even when I was quite young

 I was sure I wanted to work with them. During my studies I co-founded this wonderful little toy store called R.S. Currie and Co in Notting Hill.

 It was originally just a pop-up store but my ex-boyfriend and I turned it into a full business. 

We started hosting themed parties

 for children there in a secret area accessed by a hidden door at the back of the shop.  From cupcakes to massive decorations – we fulfilled every child’s dream. About a year and a half ago I moved to Berlin. Together with a friend we founded the forthcoming kids’ app “scrappd” last year.

What is scrappd about? What was the idea behind it?

Back when I was running the toyshop, 

kids would always come to me showing me stuff they had

 made. Because I was always interested in digital technologies (my dad is an electrical engineering professor) I was wondering if there was a way that kids could do this safely online. 

When I came to Berlin I taught myself to computer program and started building the website just for fun. It’s grown a lot now and obviously I am no longer the developer! It’s a sticker themed social network for kids.

We give them stickers and they can create stories 

with them and share their creations with their friends. 

A lot of kid’s websites actively shove brands at kids. 

We tried to find a middle ground. I learnt early on that as soon as you try to push children into educational things, they just won’t do it. 

So that was never my purpose. In this case, children are doing something really cool and learning whilst just playing and having fun. 

I’m also a lecturer at the Design Akademie Berlin and the UK representative of “eobiont” digital creative agency.

Which diet are you following?

I try and mix up the Paleolithic diet, which doesn‘t allow grains, sugar, dairy, and soy, with the CRON diet – calorie restriction optimum

nutrition.

What was your main motivation?

I started reading medical journals 

when I was about 14, because I was convinced 

there was something wrong with the food industry.

 I would read medical journals because I thought

 if I could equip myself with the right knowledge

 I could make my own decisions regarding my nutrition 

and health. I got so into it that I wrote my own

 medical paper because I was actually quite disturbed watching the majority of the world eat so much glucose and missing out on good fats.

The main thing is I really think people eat

 too many complex carbohydrates. Deliberately I haven’t eaten wheat or simple sugars for a long time. 

At R.S. Currie & Co. there was a sweets counter

 and the kids were always shocked 

that I never ate any. Then I went to San Francisco

 and met a lot of super smart people 

who had read about nutrition as well, 

and these were figures I really admired.

 Reassuringly, pretty much all of them 

ate like I did but they also taught me 

about CRON, because CRON is the added “tweak”

 to optimize the Paleo lifestyle. 

CRON means you have to

watch that you a) don’t eat too much and

 b) still get 100 percent or more of every single nutrient. 

It’s tough, especially at the beginning, but these people in San Francisco have been doing it for years and

 are now at optimum health.

I always laugh at the memory 

from university in London when someone told me

 that they  thought I was peculiar 

because I sat at the back of lectures 

drinking huge bottles of Alkaline water and eating almonds while everyone munched on sweets. 

My best friend Chester always sat next to me

 because he knew that those Marcona almonds

 were super delicious.

Why is Cron diet also called the longevity diet?

There is this intellectual movement, that unfortunately mainly focuses in the US,

 pushed by the American author, inventor, 

and director of engineering at Google: Ray Kurzweil. He is probably the most famous face behind

 the Singularity movement. It’s mainly about the progress of technology, but there is also a discussion that the advances in computational power and medicine will

 allow us to be become immortal – if we just live 

long enough to get there. I’m not sure about the whole immortality thing, but I like the idea of being healthy for as long as possible.

A lot of people I met doing the CRON diet

 in San Francisco base their studies on

 medical research in longevity in animals and humans.

 A lot of the guys are in their 50s 

and want to optimize their life span and avoid grave

 diseases so they can see as much of

 forthcoming technological developments 

as possible. I don’t know many diets that try to ensure that you have 100 percent of every nutrient. They call this the Longevity diet- the aim is very good health, whereas the goal of most diets is just to lose weight.

Are there any supplements you

take on a daily base?

Yes. I take multivitamins, magnesium, zinc and Omega 3-6-9 supplements. Omegas are really good for your bones and your brain. I also need extra vitamin

B daily to keep my energy up so

I can still run after work. I

wasn‘t able to do this earlier, I’d get sluggish in the afternoons.

Which foods are your personal

“deadly sins”?

With CRON you’re not supposed to have

much alcohol because of its lack of nutritional

value. Though the odd glass of Pinot Noir

is recommended because of the Resveratrol,

an antioxidant in that particular grape. I saw a lot of Pinot Noir in Silicon Valley.

But if and when I drink alcohol, I’ll always

wake up and need a coffee in the morning. I have mine

with unsweetened almond milk and sweeten

it with cinnamon. If I have two in one day,

I know I’m not doing very well. Caffeine is very acidic

for your system.

What is your favorite meal?

I am absolutely obsessed with aubergines

and eggs. My boyfriend cooks me eggs every

morning, which is always my favorite meal

of the day. Never underestimate an egg. He

pays attention to ingredients too, so it’s always

amazing. He’s quite famous for his eggs

amongst our friends. Sometimes for me it’s

even eggs and aubergines. If I have a choice

in the evening I’d like a nice steak and some

salad.

Honestly - Is there something you

secretly miss?

A lot of friends ask me if I miss bread. I really

don’t. Sometimes I eat nut bread that I get

from the Paleo restaurant in Neukölln, Berlin

called Sauvage. I am envious of some people’s

cocktails though. I drink “zero-dosage”

champagne or a vodka-soda and the person

next to me has this big green thing with a

sparkler and it just looks so ridiculous that I

am sad it is not in my hand.

I’ve never really experienced cocktails.

And although I really don’t mind being the freaky

eater, I don’t want to be the party pooper taking

vinegar shots. That’s more a social thing. I probably drink more than those super strict people.

What do you do when you travel or

you’re invited to a dinner event?

I travel a lot and I always carry my supplements with me.

When I know there is a

planned dinner I just check the restaurant or the menu out beforehand. It’s not that hard.

I can always eat vegetables and meat. For example

a burger without the bread and some

extra salad, that works everywhere. If they’re

serving pizza or pasta I’ll just have a snack

beforehand.

What did the diet change for you

personally in regards to physical

and psychological perspectives?

Studying CRON and learning about nutrition

was attractive for me scientifically.

 I can see why it’s the techie lifestyle

 of choice.  Perhaps it is also why I have so much

 energy  and am able to wake up very early in the morning and bounce out of bed.

I’d rather read the newspaper in bed early morning then go to a nightclub. On a good day I can run 20km then cycle to the office 

and work for 6 hours before cycling back. 

Therefore I have to eat more

than the “average CRON intake” would be.

My personal trainer at the gym

 used to call me the Tezmanian devil. I like to listen to death metal and lift weights. I’m currently training for a marathon. It relaxes me to push my limits.

I enjoy being extremely tired at night.

Sometimes I push myself so hard that I get sick- so sometimes in wanting too much good, 

you cause the exact

opposite of your desired effect.

When it comes to diets and health

people often discuss the placebo

effect. Do you really think it’s

just what you consume or also the

psychological aspect that explains

why you feel so good since

starting the diet?

If you have a positive outlook on your diet

you will naturally think better of yourself.

Maybe someone should replace all my pills with placebos

and see if I notice. But honestly

I don’t really care if it’s my body or my

brain. If I feel good with what I do and if I’m

able to do all the things I want to do, then I’m happy.

Photography: Marcus GaabText & Interview: Zsuzsanna Toth 

"What do I know of man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes" (Samuel Beckett)

Dear radishes, 

To me, you are the strawberries of vegetables. Everything about you is powerful and beautiful, as every food should be powerful and beautiful.

Too many people believe that you are silly and have no dignity. You are sly, and I love all that has a bit of cunning. One bites into your magenta colored skin to reach your snow white inside, which can sometimes be quite sharp. You don’t go about peddling yourself. On the contrary, you

hang about with your countless siblings on this distinctive and unique shaggy bundle. That’s why I LOVE YOU !

Yours,

Mirna

Text: Mirna Funk 

Photo: Marcus Gaab Studio 

INSTAFOOD: CLASSYFYING THE FOOD POSTER

First of all: I plead guilty. The evidence is clear.

from the prank of ringing of a neighbor’s doorbell

to my first cigarette, isn’t it always this way?

Once one is assimilated into a larger group, selfreflection

vanishes at the cost of self-assertion.

It’s the same with Instagram. I feel at home with

all these images of food. Strictly speaking, the

images with #food posted on the social photo

site increases at a rate of millions. There aren’t

even that many pictures of feet! Under #food: the

McDonald’s maxi menu next to images of cake stands

piled with sugary sweet macaroons, or schnitzel and

fries and – Oh! Hello… a bare male torso. Someone

obviously knows how to entice women. It’s not for

nothing that the tag #foodporn is synonymous

with Instagram.

(Read the entire article after the jump)

It’s the same on Facebook. Since the world has

denounced the elaborate rights of use, status

messages like “Still recovering from last night,”

are just as fleeting as the memories of the previous

evenings debauchery. In this light an image of

one’s lunch comes across as non-committal. Face

detection is impossible! Only Twitter is lagging.

Packing food into 140 characters should be left to

the writers of cookbooks. All the same, Instagram

makes it clear: it’s no longer “my house, my car, my

boat.” Rather “my sandwich, my steak, my favorite

experimental restaurant.” Edo, ergo sum. I eat,

therefore I am. As to the intentions behind all this,

one can only speculate. After all, you can’t throw

every Instagram user into the same pot.

There are, for example, the images from “bestie” top

models Karlie Kloss and Toni Garrn. On Instagram

they post not only backstage pictures from photo

shoots, but also images of their food. If you’re

thinking of cotton balls soaked in orange juice

or veggie sticks, you’re wrong. On the image menus

of Miss Kloss and Miss Garrn are chocolate chip

cookies and pancakes with sausages. In this case the

food images on Instagram almost cause a cognitive

dissonance in the viewer. Those that see themselves

as elite restaurant testers are another kind –

no matter what image they post, it’s clear that

they’re at the place to be. Who needs Yelp when the

information is nicely filtered and freshly served via

the iPhone? Ambitious jetsetters are much the same.

Their images range from the fairly tradition photos

of the best pizza in Naples and tacos in Tijuana to

frog legs in Cambodia, Kokoreç in Turkey, and Kitfo

in Ethiopia – culinary discoveries that even Andrew

Zimmerman from “Bizarre Foods” might not get

behind, and certainly not average-Joe food posters.

Of course, one has to take into the account the

exorbitant competition that is taking place here

– that is, coming up with something better than

a boiled egg with caviar, a masterfully arranged

fruit plate, or, yawn, an avocado sandwich. #vegan

It’s not only top chefs like Jamie Oliver who are

posting prolific numbers of food pics, the number

of food semi-professionals on Instagram make it

a source of inspiration. Many run blogs parallel

to their Instagram imagery, where they promote

their ambitious edible creations ranging from

neon layered cake to bacon shakes. This turns the

followers on Instagram into a focus group. The

images they like appear later in detailed blog posts,

with the 18 filters of Instagram functioning as a

replacement for Photoshop. A circle to which – as I

already confessed – I truculently count myself. It’s

a little like in the past, when one would tag a public

toilet or electrical boxes on the side of the street

with a permanent marker. 

My hashtags: #veggieway.

Happy #foodday!

TEXT: Julia Stelzner

PHOTOGRAPHY: Christiane Bördner 

"FRUITS & VEGETABLES" by Heidi Voet

Heidi Voet was born in Belgium and studied Sculpture in the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Ghent and Installation in The
Higher St. Lukas Institute in Brussels. For the last six years she has lived and worked between Shangai and Brussels.

For her "Food & Vegetables" series where she placed fresh vegetabels next to cut outs from Chinese erotic magazines. Controversal and a lot of fun at the same time. 

Find out more about Heidis work and see the entire photo series after the jump. 

What is the concept behind the “Fruit & Vegetables” series?

What was first - the pictures of the women or the idea of the fruits? In 2008 I sculpted a series of cinderblock vases and used Chineseerotic magazines to fold origami flowers. The nudity of the womenthat was exposed in the magazines was, by folding the pages, again obscured. It resulted in objects with a domestic character; vases with flowers that raised questions about the position of woman, culturalhistories, and the construction of images. The leftovers cuts from the magazines were lying around in my studio and then used for “Fruit & Vegetables.” By placing the fresh vegetables next to the girls their youthfulness becomes accentuated. The vegetables that complete the contours of the bodies, only have a slightly shorter lifespan. Of course there is also the relation between the depicted body and the consumption of vegetables and fruit, both delicious, both temporary. Similar to the Japanese tradition of the Ukiyo-e, the woodblock prints where the floating world is depicted. In “Fruit & Vegetables” both a reference to the temporality of pleasure and decay is portrayed.

Do you have a special relation to food/nutrition?
I obviously like playing with food and love entertaining the idea that eating is, in essence, a “sculptural” act. You take the food, the material, and bite it, chew it, and change its form. Eating as a way to react and act within ones environment. You take a foreign object, an apple for example, and then place it in your body by eating it. From the moment you swallow it, you refer to the apple as “me.” I love entertaining these ideas. That’s also how the photo series “Granny
Smith” with the green apple came along. Eating, playing, sculpting. The main idea explored in that series is the vanitas motive.

Where did you find the photographs used in “Fruit & Vegetables”?
In 2006 I moved to Shanghai and was very sensitive to my new environment where I was confronted daily with scenes that questioned my convictions and habits. To explore the city I would go for walks and I found erotic magazines hidden in the back of a newspaper kiosk on Fuxing Road. Seeing pictures of naked flesh and pubic hair was quiet exceptional in a society where nudity is censored and the press is highly controlled. The magazines were sold a material for artists to study the human body or as “Art
Photography,” but functioned as erotica. It captures a very specific moment in Chinese contemporary development.
Towards the end of 2007 I started working with these magazines for my series of origami flowers.

Do you often work with the image of the female body?
Every woman and man today is still obliged to other women in less fortunate situations to be a feminist. It is interesting to think about the strengths of woman and keeping seduction and play in this picture. I am a woman and look in the mirror. I use images of other woman to be able to consider and describe my relation to the world with some distance, but with intimate familiarity at the same time. Asian woman appear in my work, as they represent the shift in global power in contemporary and future societies.

What are you working on at the moment?
I just finished the series “Shoot & Sprout,” a series of black and white photos that resemble ethnographical images of primitive sculptures and totems. Upon closer look one sees they are small sculptures made of potatoes on toothpicks.
The skin of the potatoes is shriveled and dry, but show signs of new life in their shoots. I was thinking about our current position in a historical context. How our ancestors continue to influence today and how we are trying to be civilized men.
I am also preparing “Stars &Constellations,” a piece that
will be shown in Brussels next month.

ARTWORK: Heidi Voet 

TEXT&INTERVIEW: Zsuzsanna Toth 

NEVER MAKE EYE CONTACT WHILE EATING A BANANA!

For THE DIET ISSUE our stylist Kathi Kauder transformed the shape of banana stickers to fashionable accessories. Additionally, Gintare Parulyte told her story of a very unique kind of banana shock.

Read the entire story and find the beauty photo series after the jump.

Generally speaking, the main purpose of consuming food consists of overcoming

the uncomfortable and distracting sensation of hunger, calming hormonal cravings

for chocolate, and curing hangovers with a serious intake of junk. Yet one shouldn’t

forget the possibility of some types of food used as pleasure enhancers in the sex

department. During my first appointment at my gynecologist, at the innocent age of

13, she urged me to beware the dangers of bananas.

It turned out that a girl my age had read an article in a sex education column that

mentioned a series of foods one could use to obtain orgasms including, of course,

the multiple uses of bananas. Used to consuming bananas in their peeled from, the

girl peeled her purchased green banana, hoping that it being unripe would prevent

it from breaking, and began her mission under her warm and naive teenage bed

sheets. The entry of this exotic fruit into her innocent yet curious vagina was smooth

and felt good. 

Yet once she attempted to give it a series of a pleasure-inducing

movements, she was forced to notice that the movement inside her greedy vagina

didn’t correspond with the exterior movement she made on the trunk. Yes, the

banana broke. She ran to the bathroom, lay on the cold tiles in front of the vertical

bathroom mirror and tried to spread her skinny legs as much as she could. Spreading

her legs was not something she had trained up to then. She inserted her fingers

into her genitals and tried to empty the tunnel. To her surprise and relief, she soon

felt the mission accomplished. However, the following days revealed a constantly

stronger odour of riper and riper banana coming from down under. One day the aroma

was so ripe, making her shame and panic so great, that she audaciously called

her gynecologist, begging to save her without judgment. After thanking the doctor

for elegantly cleaning her mess, she asked her to prevent more girls from possible

banana shocks by spreading her story as anonymously as possible, which she did,

amongst others, to the young me. Thank you, dear banana girl, for sharing your story,

although indirectly. I am sure you saved many vaginas from ripe disasters.

TEXT by Gintare Parulyte PHOTOS : Sabrina TheissenFASHION AND ARTWORK: Kathi KauderHAIR & MAKE-UP: Stelli /Tom Ford CosmeticsMODEL: Clara @ elite model management LondonPHOTO ASSISTANT: Fredrik AltinellFASHION ASSISTANT: Julia Heifer