Edible Stories; Edible Worlds
A collective public gathering to connect with Goa and it’s terrain. Inviting the public to participate by delving into their own archives of ingredients that connect us to places, plants and the stories they tell.
Edible Stories; Edible Worlds was an opportunity to share stories that connect to Goa via an ingredient, plant or recipe. We shared the following invitation:
“It may be a local ingredient that speaks to you? Or an ingredient that has travelled with you from where you live? Or maybe the ingredient reminds you of the Goan terrain? We invite you to bring an ingredient plant or recipe that connects to the way food travels across borders, connects to memory, and bridges colonial histories of trade, migrations of people, industrial monocultures and the transformation of ecosystems.”
Over four hours of sharing stories, we tasted rice, breadfruit, millet, prickly pear, chamandipuri, honey and many more ingredients and heard about the changing landscapes of foods available in India through shifts in government policy, global trade and disappearing traditions.
Because eating together is its own form of connection and knowledge making to and with our inner worlds, Edible Archives provided a simple “food stories” lunch with local Goan ingredients that also served to spark conversation. There were opportunities for spontaneous cooking for those who wanted to share their ingredients in a dish.
-
Edible Archives
EDIBLE ARCHIVES is a project that researches indigenous Indian ingredients, working directly with small farmers to showcase these ingredients, and the cultures around them, at its eponymous restaurant and kitchen garden. They write that “Since each person has an edible archive of their own, consisting of all the foods they’ve ever eaten, Edible Archives aims to create entries into the collective sensory catalogue that belongs to all the people involved in growing, sourcing, creating or eating a meal, via the use of indigenous ingredients.”
-
Credits and Supporters
With thanks to the participation of artists / food researchers: Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar, Shalini Krishan, Keg de Souza, Madeleine Collie, Malini Kochupillai of Tenacious Bee Collective, and Meenakshi Thirukode.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. Research for the project was also supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship and by a grant from Monash University Curatorial Practice. Part of FAR Network research programme initated by Madeleine Collie throughout 2023-24.
This event took place at Edible Archives in Goa on Sunday, 5th February, 11:30 – 3:30pm. It was free, we offered lunch and was open to the public.