This event will discuss the possibilities of food, from exploration of cultural identity, to strengthening community cohesion and encouraging civic participation. Panellists will think through the role our culinary cultures have to play in our sense of belonging and as a means by which to reconnect with our heritages and pasts.
Our panel includes: founder of The Supper Club Arawelo Eats, Fozia Ismail, food writer Jojo Tulloh, multidisciplinary architectural designer and artist Sahra Hersi and researcher in in food politics, culture and history Dr Mukta Das. The discussion will be chaired by artist and editor of Cooking in a Hackney Estate Rose Gibbs.
Cooking in a Hackney Estate is a community cookbook with recipes collected from the residents of Mountford Estate in Hackney. The cookbook reflects the diverse culinary cultures of the neighbourhood, bringing together food traditions from many parts of the world.
The inspiration for the cookbook Cooking in a Hackney Estate came from the creation of a community garden on the estate which enabled residents to grow fruit, herbs and vegetables particular to their own food tradition that might otherwise be hard to procure. The garden also provides residents with a means by which to reconnect with their heritage and their past and share those culinary and horticultural traditions with each other
Biographies
Rose Gibbs
Rose Gibbs’ practice seeks to create the kind of art world of which she would like to be a part: reconfiguring the grounds upon which participation in the cultural landscape is made possible by building networks, organising discussions and collaborating with others. She founded the community organisation Mountford Growing Community on the estate where she lives.
Fozia Ismail
Fozia Ismail runs the Somali supper club Arawelo Eats. The supper club is a platform for thinking, researching and exploring racism and British identity via the medium of food. In 2019 she was one of OFM’s Top 50. Fozia is UWE Research Coordinator for Creative Economy Unit and City Fellow for Arnolfini.
Jojo Tulloh
Jojo Tulloh is an award-winning food writer and pamphleteer. Author of East End Paradise and The Modern Peasant (Fortnum & Mason Food Book of the Year 2014). Her independently published pamphlets have considered Elizabeth David’s marginalia, Patience Gray, Dorothy Hartley and the previously untranslated recipes of Marguerite Duras.
Sahra Hersi
Sahra Hersi is a multidisciplinary architectural designer and artist based in London. Her practice explores shared spaces, the public realm, collaboration and community engagement. Her work is often born out of engaging with local communities and the spaces they occupy.
Mukta Das
Mukta Das researches teaches and writes about Chinese and Asian food culture, mapping the way cooks, ingredients and tastes have travelled on ocean currents and on desert roads for centuries, and how this past is understood by present-day chefs. She is a Research Associate of the Food Studies Centre at SOAS, University of London.