This experiment originated from the challenge of analyzing the unconscious gestures one does when eating. There is one specific movement I use to do, and other people do too, as I noticed, that is the small action taken usually from the index finger, of picking up the remaining crumbs of a delicious dish at the end of the meal. I studied the movement itself in all its steps, and I tried to understand the reason why we unconsciously do it. I suppose that it could be because we want more of the dish, and we can’t help trying to take it from the remaining crumbs.

The Finger Dessert is an experience based on eating a destructured lemon meringue pie. The aim is to switch the index finger gesture from catching the last crumbs of a dish, to actually eating the dish itself. Each layer of the cake was simplified and prepared in crumbs shape, then put in different big dishes, meringue excluded, which was just spread on it. The participants were asked to go around the tables of the different ingredients, and “take a piece of cake”, so “to build” their own piece, with the only rule of using just the top of the fingers of one single hand.

It was interesting to see how everyone found, in such a short time, the best solution in order to collect as many ingredients as possible on the fingers and re-create the full taste of the cake when eating it. The meringue was successfully used as an edible glue! Someone else instead, tried to recreate the layers directly in the mouth.