A Cookbook Exploring Identity Through Memory and Meals
Each of us have stories to share. Through this cookbook, I wanted to open the dialogue around food and how it can be used as a tool to simultaneously celebrate diversity, develop understanding, and unite us as a community.
Over a bowl of Roti Canai and Satay, my Mom and I shared fond memories of Kuala Lumpur. Rarely do we wonder how the meals we eat came to exist, or why we eat something. On this occasion, it was clear. Eating Malaysian food is a comfort that connects us to memories of a childhood spent in Asia.
For as long as humans have been creating culture, the dishes we eat and create reflect who we are, where we come from, our beliefs, and the knowledge passed down by our ancestors. As a New Zealand-American that grew up in Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea, food has been a way to connect me to the places I’ve called home.
Paying homage to the places, cultures, and people that helped shaped me, I designed a cookbook that combines recipes from 6 countries and personal memories through the form of storytelling and visual imagery inspired by travel diaries and screen-print artists of the 1960s.
Each of us have stories to share. Through this cookbook, I wanted to open the dialogue around food and how it can be used as a tool to simultaneously celebrate diversity, develop understanding, and unite us as a community.
