*
EXT. HANGING ALLOTMENT GARDEN WITH BIRDS SINGING. BALMY AFTERNOON.
We see hands reaching for refreshments and picking and eating raw from the hanging fruit and vegetable allotments and dispensed via drinking water fountains, or Peach Blossom Springs- the name of the network of safe drinking waterways.
HAMMOND
(chatting idly to GUEST)
…As to the land being a garden, I have heard that they used to have shrubberies and rockeries in gardens once; and though I might not like the artificial ones, I assure you that some of the natural rockeries of our garden are worth seeing.
DR LEETE
I am surprised that the topic of how you get your sustenance has not yet come up.
RACHEL scoops up a cupful of ‘Chia’ from a seemingly endless display bowl, which promptly refills from underneath as she does so like a spring loading coil in a vending machine. Next to ‘Chia’ are tens of other bowls of superfoods- we can see a few labels: ‘Goji Berries’, ‘Yerba Mate’, and bowls marked ‘Popped Red Quinoa’ and ‘Popped Sorghum’, which the group idly snack on.
RACHEL
Well, there’s simply no need for these kinds of distribution infrastructures any more. Bleisure island is capable of growing networked hydroponics close to wherever residents want to eat- take these hanging baskets and food displays, they grow wherever we choose to map a wireless food source, just as the cloud system which allows for a connected leisure and workplace.
Rachel pours a round of chia seed coffee frappes, and serves them onto nearby cloud powered Coldstone Plates that are landscaped into the gardens sporadically at convenient heights. She gathers a group assembled in the allotment including JESSICA, who has shiny white teeth and healthy hair, and is wearing yoga gear.
RACHEL
Today is something I have been looking forward to, and is something you’ve all fed back to me that there is a demand for, so I’d like to introduce you all to Jess Ainscough, who writes Wellness Warrior, joining us from Australia, to work as Bleisure Island’s Food Productivity Consultant. Today we’ll be talking about Chia, which we are testing as the staple of the Bleisure Island Menu. You are enjoying it now, and it can just as easily be emulsified in fresh young coconut water. If you had to pick just one desert-island food, you couldn’t do much better than chia.**
JESSICA
I’m Jessica Ainscough — a writer, holistic health coach, and green-juicin’, cancer-kickin’ Wellness Warrior. Thank you for listening. . . and for being here. ‘Cause here is SO good.***
ETG
…it integrates the multiple roles of holiday making, recreation, amusement and business!
JESSICA
(visibly annoyed that her introduction is interrupted but continues smiling and soon moves on with her demo)
I love Chia! …there are a heap of reasons to eat Chia…. it’s gluten free, contains 20% omega 3 ALA- 8 times more than salmon! It is a complete protein with all 8 essential amino acids, 4 times more antioxidants than blueberries, 7 times more vitamin C than Oranges, 3 times more iron than spinach, twice the potassium content of banana….
We see the group from a distance nodding, tasting, laughing, throwing seeds, the sun in their hair, looking almost visibly more energetic.
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*
Sentence taken from the press release to the exhibition Recent Work by Artists, Auto Italia, August 2013
**
The Chia Craze. BBC News Magazine, Lauren Everitt.