Animation library

Every step in the atlas is one scene, built from the pieces below and moved by a physics engine running in your browser. Together they draw 12,178 steps on 2,206 pages.

Motions

Each one is playing a real step from the atlas.

Starting materialThe food falls or pours into its vessel.Abondance PDO: Starting material: raw whole milk from two milkings, kept cool

CuttingA knife comes down and a whole piece splits.Abacha (African salad base): The cooled cassava is cut into thin shreds

AddingSalt, spice or starter lands on the food and sticks where it is wet.Abacha (African salad base): The dressing goes in: oil, vegetables, fish and pepper

MixingA paddle moves through the contents.Ablo (steamed fermented maize or rice bread): Part of the flour is cooked to a paste and kneaded back with raw flour, sugar and yeast

ShapingA board and weight press the food into its form.Aaruul: The pressed curd is cut into small pieces or pressed into moulds

PressingA weight settles on the food and pushes it down.Abaza peyniri (Sakarya Abhaz peyniri): Hot curd is packed into a cloth-lined mould and pressed to drive out whey

HeatingFire below, bubbles and steam rising, the thermometer climbing.Aaruul: Heat and acid split the soured milk into curd and whey

DrainingLiquid runs out from below.Aaruul: The curd hangs in a cloth bag to drain, then is pressed firm

WashingWater runs in and carries off what it washes away.Abondance PDO: The wheel is rubbed with morge as it ripens, and the rind turns golden to brown

SeparatingA layer forms on top or settles below.Formaggio agordino di malga: The evening milk stands in cold copper basins and the cream rises off it

FermentingMicrobes drift through the food and it slowly changes.Aaruul: Warm milk with a starter sets and sours into tarag

FizzingGas rises through the liquid and breaks at the surface.Ablo (steamed fermented maize or rice bread): Yeast fills the covered dough with gas and it turns slightly sour

Mould growthA bloom spreads over the surface.African opaque sorghum beers (catalogue): Rootlets and shoots grow as the grain makes the enzymes that turn starch into sugar

DryingMoisture leaves, the pieces shrink and darken.Aaruul: The curd pieces dry in sun and wind until hard

SmokingSmoke drifts through and the colour deepens.Akanthou cheese (Akanthiotiko tyri): Lentisk smoke dries the cheeses on straw so they keep for years

SealingThe closure comes down onto the mouth.Aceto di miele (honey vinegar): The vinegar is bottled raw, without heating

WrappingA leaf or cloth settles over the food.Alheira: The paste goes into beef casing, tied end to end into a horseshoe

AgeingTime passes on the clock and the food matures.Abaza peyniri (Sakarya Abhaz peyniri): Wrapped in paper inside closed jars, the cheese ripens cold and turns amber

Colour changeThe food turns as the step describes.Akado-zuke (Aso red taro-stem pickle, "field horse-sashimi"): Under a weighted lid the dark liquid is removed and the stalks turn bright red

Close-upThe food cut open, with salt or water moving in from its surface.Abacha (African salad base): The shreds soak for three days in water changed every 12 hours

Harp cuttingA curd harp sweeps through the vat and the set curd falls into grains.Abaza peyniri (Sakarya Abhaz peyniri): The curd is cut, broken up slowly and left while the whey separates

KneadingA hand presses into the food and works it aside.Ablo (steamed fermented maize or rice bread): Part of the flour is cooked to a paste and kneaded back with raw flour, sugar and yeast

RubbingA hand sweeps back and forth over the surface, rubbing salt or smear in.Abaza peyniri (Sakarya Abhaz peyniri): Coarse salt rubbed on the cooled pieces moves into the cheese

LadlingA ladle tips the curd into each mould in turn.Afuega'l Pitu PDO: The curd is ladled into perforated cones and whey drips out under its own weight

StretchingA stick lifts the hot curd out of its whey and lets it fall back.Ainuzzi: Strips of sour curd are stirred in hot water until they stretch

StuffingFilled casings come off the stuffer one after another.Alheira: The paste goes into beef casing, tied end to end into a horseshoe

SettlingDraining food sinks together as its liquid runs out.Aaruul: The curd hangs in a cloth bag to drain, then is pressed firm

RisingRicotta flakes or butter grains rise and gather on the whey.Amacunda (sour buttermilk): Churning in the gourd gathers the butter and leaves the sour buttermilk

Foods (277)

The pictures are made with an image model and checked against reference photographs of the real food. They show what a food looks like, not one producer's product.