Protest Food
Protest Food examines how food can be used as an accessible medium to express resistance, strength and solidarity in the world today.
The project has three components, each offering a different level of engagement and interactivity.
(1) Protest Mooncake Workshop
Participants can create and consume mooncakes with personalized protest messages. They will get to create their own mooncake stamps using 3D-printed letters, numbers, symbols and designs, and imprint the messages on the stamps on the mooncakes. Inspired by Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Mooncakes during the Anti-Extradition protests in 2019, as well as my own cultural identity, this workshop encourages participants to merge personal, cultural, and political expression through food. I will also be facilitating conversations about food’s political significance, encouraging participants to reflect on its role in their own lives.
Examples of messages you can create with the mooncake stamps:
Letters, numbers, symbols, mooncake stamps provided:
(2) Protest Food Online Archive
A hand-coded, interactive archive documenting food’s role in social movements globally and historically. Users can browse by topics and contribute their own examples, making it a participatory, evolving record of lesser-known food-resistance movements. I will be sending out monthly newsletters to my own network, each highlighting a different example from the archive. I hope my archive and newsletter serves as a resource and inspiration for ongoing collective action.
The archive is now live at protestfood.com– check it out!
(3) Protest Food Book
The 200-page book highlights nine different stories of how food is used as a form of resistance by different organizations in various parts of the world today. I interviewed individuals/ talked to organizers from each of the nine organizations, and then transcribed, wrote, edited, designed, printed and bound every book by hand.
Access the pdf version of the book here.
The nine different stories highlighted in this book are:
(a) Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition mooncakes (Hong Kong/ special administrative region of China)
(b) La Morada Mutual Aid Kitchen (USA, Mexico)
(c) Gaza Soup Kitchen (Palestine)
(d) The Okra Project (USA)
(e) Bake for Ukraine (Ukraine)
(f) Food Sovereignty Ghana (Ghana)
(g) Vegetables Without Borders (Netherlands)
(h) Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (Kenya)
(i) Prison Agriculture Lab (USA)
Credits
Brainstorming, ideating and helping me along the way: Julia Daser;
Recommendations and resources: Professor Alexandra Délano Alonso, Zachary Leamy and Tench Cholnoky;
All interviewees: T, Jon Rubin, Dawn Weleski from Conflict Kitchen, Orang Laut, Emily Li, Abed Ajrami from Gaza Soup Kitchen, Marco Saavedra and Natalia Méndez from La Morada, Gilbert Goh from Love Aid SG, Joshua Sbicca from Prison Agriculture Lab, Felicity Spector from Bake for Ukraine, Brian Hioe from New Bloom Magazine, Mirtilla LaResdòra from Groenten Zonder Grenzen Rotterdam, Gabrielle Inès Souza from The Okra Project, Anthony Kwache from KENASVIT, Edwin Baffour from Food Sovereignty Ghana, Orang Laut team;
Book Editing: Jesse Harding;
Guidance and mentorship: Professors Kellee Massey, Ayo Okunseinde, Jesse Harding, Kia Gregory, Richard The, Zachary Leamy, Jack Jin Gary Lee;
Contributing to my archive: Krish, Maite, Maryam, Jana, Oritz Victoria, Zang Yi, Daltin Danser, Lara Arditi, Bob Shi, Vanessa Shimon, Sanchi Paruthi, Joa Sapicas, Varda Durandisse , Kuhoo Bhatnagar, Julia Shwe, Maiia Lysytska, Eloise Yalovitser, Ahona Paul, Grace Park, Natalia Cortina, Nathan Williams, Madina Masimova, Noor Bishor, Emily Li, Amanda Phyu Sin Thu, Adan Abbas, Dida Aljabari, Aparna Krishnan, Mirtilla LaResdòra, Julia Daser;
User testing: All D12 classmates;
Printing: Design Lab at The New School, Emily Li.
Grant/ Funding: New School Student Research Award (University Student Senate and the Office of the President);
Brainstorming, ideating and helping me along the way: Julia Daser;