A chef and an architect celebrate eating in bed – I'm not joining in
A bowl of pasta, folded like bed linen, in a broth that simmers for four hours: this is how a chef and an architect are staging food in bed at Milan Design Week. It looked tempting. Still, it is not a good idea for me.
For the «Room self-service» project, five cooking-design duos were commissioned by Ikea to each design a room complete with a menu. Architect Charlotte Taylor and chef Ben Lippett chose the bedroom of all places – the one place at home where you shouldn't do anything but sleep. Their room: a trattoria snuggled into a duvet. Wood, warm metals, golden light.
On the bed: a bowl of pasta, folded like bed linen, in a broth that, according to Lippett, cooks for four hours. When I arrived to take photos, the bowl was already gone. Too many people, too high a risk of stains. All that remained was the stage around it.
Source: Ikea
Why think about this now?
The days are getting shorter. We are hanging out in bed more again. And cold season is starting – with tea, soup, and tissues on the nightstand instead of in the kitchen. This is exactly when the question that Taylor and Lippett are romanticizing arises again: should the bed now also become a dining area?
Beautiful doesn't mean right
The room is beautiful, the gesture is beautiful, no question. Lippett puts it in a nutshell: «We have never spent as little time cooking as we do today. This broth takes four hours. So if you take the time for something like this – especially if you share it with someone – it's a huge gift.» True. A bowl is also easier to balance in bed than plates and cutlery.
Nevertheless: nice and pretty doesn't mean hygienic. I see crumbs between the pillows, sauce stains on the sheet, and my stomach is already turning. A good night's sleep requires a clean room. Not one where I'm lying on food scraps at night. On top of that, eating while lying down almost always gives me heartburn, long before I'm even tired. And if I eat in bed, my brain remembers: things happen here during the day too – the peace is gone. It's not for nothing that sleep therapy dictates: the bed is only for sleeping.
The bed as a stage, not a permanent dining table
What Taylor and Lippett have devised is not an everyday tip. It's a thought experiment: how much care is in a meal when you take the time for it? The design magazine Dezeen writes that the two have created a bedroom that rethinks eating in bed as an everyday ritual rather than an occasional luxury – a cocoon-like space with shelves and movable furniture for switching between resting and eating.
That is exactly where I disagree: as a one-off ritual, celebrated with four hours of broth and company – gladly. As an everyday occurrence, on some Monday with a tray on the duvet – no.
Chaos with recognition value
Charlotte Taylor's signature is unmistakable: books that look more stacked than sorted. Magazines left open as if someone had just gotten up. She made exactly this her trademark in her «Home from Home» exhibition in Copenhagen.
She stays true to herself in Milan, too: pillows are crooked, pajamas are left carelessly lying around. Cozy, not perfect. Exactly the way she likes it.
Where my opinion reaches its limits
I only took photos, I didn't eat. My opinion comes from watching, not from experiencing it myself. And: for special occasions, sick days, or as a consciously staged moment for two, «eating in bed» is perfectly fine. My criticism is directed at the bed as a permanent dining table, not at breakfast on the weekend.
How do you handle it: croissant crumbs in bed – romance or nightmare? Write it in the comments.
Like a cheerleader, I celebrate good design and bring you closer to everything furniture- and interior design-related. I regularly curate simple yet sophisticated interior finds, track down trends and interview creative minds about their work.
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
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