What would a poetics of the commons look like? What can it achieve today in cultural as well as in social terms?
The commons is difficult to delineate and yet it represents a seemingly universal and timeless form of social organisation characterised, in short, by collective custody of and equal access to land and natural resources. In our age of global hyper-capitalism and unbridled speculation on increasingly virtual assets it is no wonder that the commons has come to epitomise a (re)turn to the land and matter as well as an aspirational alternative to individualism and a utopian ethics for change. Nowadays, the notion of commons has become a ubiquitous symbol for self-governance as well as an ideological bulwark against the excesses of neoliberalism and rampant commodification of earth and our lives alike. It gives us a hope that capitalism is not a universal fatality and that other modes of existence and worldviews have existed and still exist, that can teach us anew how to collectively and equally share responsibilities, knowledge, and the life-giving resources that surround us sustainably. This is true and possible even in our modern world, where the philosophy of the commons has for instance allowed the internet to become a testing ground for decentralised governance and the open-source sharing of (digital) resources.
In recent years, the cultural world in particular has increasingly seen artists and producers reclaiming the commons both as a thematic framework and as a work method aiming to promote a more sustainable relation to value and resources. For its inaugural cycle, Boca A Boca has invited the curators Alejandra Monteverde and Thamyres Matarozzi to guest edit a series of multimedia contributions engaging with this notion and speculating on its possible contemporary applications in culture and beyond. They have decided to answer our invitation not with a theoretical discussion on the subject but rather by implementing and featuring exemplary forms of collective creation to nurture an embodied reflection on the role of art and culture in experimenting with and providing models for alternative forms of resource management and knowledge-sharing. In particular, Alejandra and Thamryres’s cycle focuses on memory: How to remember lost ingredients and stories through cooking? How to preserve the collective memory of a landscape that has disappeared thanks to an original cultural project? And, above all, how to reclaim and implement the age-old tradition of the commons in and for our contemporary reality? Enhanced with Pierina Másquez’s illustrations that punctuate each contribution, these distinct stories are brought together into a cohesive cycle that echoes Boca A Boca’s own cyclicality as well as our foundational aspiration to promote horizontal exchanges and collaborative action.
Boca A Boca's editorial team
What would a poetics of the commons look like? What can it achieve today in cultural as well as in social terms?
The commons is difficult to delineate and yet it represents a seemingly universal and timeless form of social organisation characterised, in short, by collective custody of and equal access to land and natural resources. In our age of global hyper-capitalism and unbridled speculation on increasingly virtual assets it is no wonder that the commons has come to epitomise a (re)turn to the land and matter as well as an aspirational alternative to individualism and a utopian ethics for change. Nowadays, the notion of commons has become a ubiquitous symbol for self-governance as well as an ideological bulwark against the excesses of neoliberalism and rampant commodification of earth and our lives alike. It gives us a hope that capitalism is not a universal fatality and that other modes of existence and worldviews have existed and still exist, that can teach us anew how to collectively and equally share responsibilities, knowledge, and the life-giving resources that surround us sustainably. This is true and possible even in our modern world, where the philosophy of the commons has for instance allowed the internet to become a testing ground for decentralised governance and the open-source sharing of (digital) resources.
In recent years, the cultural world in particular has increasingly seen artists and producers reclaiming the commons both as a thematic framework and as a work method aiming to promote a more sustainable relation to value and resources. For its inaugural cycle, Boca A Boca has invited the curators Alejandra Monteverde and Thamyres Matarozzi to guest edit a series of multimedia contributions engaging with this notion and speculating on its possible contemporary applications in culture and beyond. They have decided to answer our invitation not with a theoretical discussion on the subject but rather by implementing and featuring exemplary forms of collective creation to nurture an embodied reflection on the role of art and culture in experimenting with and providing models for alternative forms of resource management and knowledge-sharing. In particular, Alejandra and Thamryres’s cycle focuses on memory: How to remember lost ingredients and stories through cooking? How to preserve the collective memory of a landscape that has disappeared thanks to an original cultural project? And, above all, how to reclaim and implement the age-old tradition of the commons in and for our contemporary reality? Enhanced with Pierina Másquez’s illustrations that punctuate each contribution, these distinct stories are brought together into a cohesive cycle that echoes Boca A Boca’s own cyclicality as well as our foundational aspiration to promote horizontal exchanges and collaborative action.
Boca A Boca's editorial team
Cycle is a cycle
Time has to be taken into consideration when addressing the concept of the commons. When commons are used as a thinking tool, it can encourage a powerful countermovement that has the potential to reshape things radically. Practices of commoning take time to grow. Yet we live in a society marked by frenetic speed and precarious exchanges, where one is confronted by the constant appeal to practicality and comfort and takes little part in higher decisions that concern our own lives. Our relationship to naturally available resources is based on exhaustion and our actions are evermore disconnected from ancestral and natural knowledge. We have forgotten the importance of cyclicality as a mode of existence. The need for a periodic regeneration of time can be recognized in the repetition of rituals and ceremonies that safeguard local cultures and traditions. Understanding cyclicality is not only ‘being with time’ but actively engaging in new approaches to living and experiencing reality.
Cyclicality is materialized most visibly through food. Food involves many dimensions of life; it is one of the main elements that shape our identity and our relationship with the world. Food is not only a central substance for human existence, but eating is a sensorial and emotional experience that shapes our collective memory. Food has the possibility to nurse communication between individuals from different realities by connecting people across the table and by sharing experiences that allow fertile ground for food stories to be born, re-enacted and reappropriated; stories that have passed from generation to generation holding secrets and mysteries while teaching us about nurturing and the poetics of eating, and ultimately creating common social narratives.
Every recipe carries a story, and every ingredient is a path to unearthing forgotten skills.
This story begins with a menu of five dishes produced in the land of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Every ingredient of each recipe is recognized as a substance that condenses knowledge in its material texture and shape. The stories created around each recipe show us the possibility of experiencing food through senses beyond taste, introducing new ways of relating to food that aren’t driven by a logic that threatens society and nature but are based on the importance of its cyclical nature and forgotten knowledges.
A nomadic museum built as the copy of an abandoned farm at the Leidsche Rijn, Netherlands, with an old cargo bike triggered a series of activities that open up new spaces for exchange, learning, and unlearning. This artistic practice ruminates around the idea of sharing by gathering people and stimulating togetherness, allowing networks to take place on the basis of common and shared values, encouraging a better understanding of agricultural knowledge by relating to the land and creating new ways of being together.
Made in the city of Lima, Peru, the graphite on paper drawings that are seen throughout the platform work as visual translations of the narratives created around each dish and the ideas presented in this editorial. A series of questions have also been illustrated, introducing audio dialogues about commons, cyclicality, and the importance of rethinking modes of co-existence. In this exercise of sharing knowledge and concerns about what needs to be restored in the world, the series of drawings become symbolic manifestations to imagine a different future.
Alejandra Monteverde and Thamyres Matarozzi
Cycle is a cycle
Time has to be taken into consideration when addressing the concept of the commons. When commons are used as a thinking tool, it can encourage a powerful countermovement that has the potential to reshape things radically. Practices of commoning take time to grow. Yet we live in a society marked by frenetic speed and precarious exchanges, where one is confronted by the constant appeal to practicality and comfort and takes little part in higher decisions that concern our own lives. Our relationship to naturally available resources is based on exhaustion and our actions are evermore disconnected from ancestral and natural knowledge. We have forgotten the importance of cyclicality as a mode of existence. The need for a periodic regeneration of time can be recognized in the repetition of rituals and ceremonies that safeguard local cultures and traditions. Understanding cyclicality is not only ‘being with time’ but actively engaging in new approaches to living and experiencing reality.
Cyclicality is materialized most visibly through food. Food involves many dimensions of life; it is one of the main elements that shape our identity and our relationship with the world. Food is not only a central substance for human existence, but eating is a sensorial and emotional experience that shapes our collective memory. Food has the possibility to nurse communication between individuals from different realities by connecting people across the table and by sharing experiences that allow fertile ground for food stories to be born, re-enacted and reappropriated; stories that have passed from generation to generation holding secrets and mysteries while teaching us about nurturing and the poetics of eating, and ultimately creating common social narratives.
Every recipe carries a story, and every ingredient is a path to unearthing forgotten skills.
This story begins with a menu of five dishes produced in the land of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Every ingredient of each recipe is recognized as a substance that condenses knowledge in its material texture and shape. The stories created around each recipe show us the possibility of experiencing food through senses beyond taste, introducing new ways of relating to food that aren’t driven by a logic that threatens society and nature but are based on the importance of its cyclical nature and forgotten knowledges.
A nomadic museum built as the copy of an abandoned farm at the Leidsche Rijn, Netherlands, with an old cargo bike triggered a series of activities that open up new spaces for exchange, learning, and unlearning. This artistic practice ruminates around the idea of sharing by gathering people and stimulating togetherness, allowing networks to take place on the basis of common and shared values, encouraging a better understanding of agricultural knowledge by relating to the land and creating new ways of being together.
Made in the city of Lima, Peru, the graphite on paper drawings that are seen throughout the platform work as visual translations of the narratives created around each dish and the ideas presented in this editorial. A series of questions have also been illustrated, introducing audio dialogues about commons, cyclicality, and the importance of rethinking modes of co-existence. In this exercise of sharing knowledge and concerns about what needs to be restored in the world, the series of drawings become symbolic manifestations to imagine a different future.
Alejandra Monteverde and Thamyres Matarozzi
COLHE, COME, COLHER
In Portuguese, one harvests [colhe] and eats [come]
with the same word: spoon [colher].
May they inhabit everyone's mouth.
(Original text in Portuguese)
Em português, se colhe e se come
com a mesma palavra: colher.
Que possam habitar a boca de toda gente.
COLHE, COME, COLHER
In Portuguese, one harvests [colhe] and eats [come]
with the same word: spoon [colher].
May they inhabit everyone's mouth.
(Original text in Portuguese)
Em português, se colhe e se come
com a mesma palavra: colher.
Que possam habitar a boca de toda gente.
TO RUMINATE: CHEWING, MEDITATING, REFLECTING
A meal bears with itself countless narratives, it is made of time, sweat, sun, rain, relationships.
Ruminant invitation: as chewing a portion of food, whenever possible, invest a time analogous to its history.
RUMINAR: MASTIGAR, MEDITAR, REFLETIR (original text in Portuguese)
Um prato carrega consigo inúmeras narrativas, é feito de tempo, suor, sol, chuva, redes de relações.
Convite ruminante: sempre que possível, depositar na mastigação de um alimento um tempo análogo à sua história.
RECIPE
Method:
Red chicory salad, sow thistle¹, lemon vine², lemon and radish marinated in lemon juice and finished with olive oil and salt. At the bottom, a decomposed sauce (to mix as you eat) made with: tahini with lemon and salt, cane molasses with soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and lemon vine flour sprinkled on the plate.
RECEITA
Preparo:
Salada de almeirão roxo, serralha, ora-pro-nóbis, limão e rabanete marinados no suco de limão e finalizados com azeite e sal. Na base, um molho decomposto (para se misturar conforme se come) feito com: tahine com limão e sal, melado de cana com shoyo e aceto balsâmico, azeite, sal e farinha de ora-pro-nóbis polvilhados no prato.
¹ Sonchus oleraceus, found also as common sow thistle, smooth sow thistle, annual sow thistle, hare's colwort, hare's thistle, milky tassel, milk thistle and soft thistle. In Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham’s encyclopedia of magical herbs. Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications, 2008, p. 242. [T.N.]
² Pereskia aculeata, also known as Barbados gooseberry, blade-apple cactus, leaf cactus and rose cactus. In the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais, the popular and highly used plant is known as ora-pro-nóbis. In Pedroni, F. & M. Sanchez. “Seed dispersal of Pereskia aculeata Muller (Cactaceae) in forest fragment in southeast Brazil”. Revista Brasileira de Biologia n. 57, 1997, pp. 479-486. [T.N.]
TO RUMINATE: CHEWING, MEDITATING, REFLECTING
A meal bears with itself countless narratives, it is made of time, sweat, sun, rain, relationships.
Ruminant invitation: as chewing a portion of food, whenever possible, invest a time analogous to its history.
RUMINAR: MASTIGAR, MEDITAR, REFLETIR (original text in Portuguese)
Um prato carrega consigo inúmeras narrativas, é feito de tempo, suor, sol, chuva, redes de relações.
Convite ruminante: sempre que possível, depositar na mastigação de um alimento um tempo análogo à sua história.
RECIPE
Method:
Red chicory salad, sow thistle¹, lemon vine², lemon and radish marinated in lemon juice and finished with olive oil and salt. At the bottom, a decomposed sauce (to mix as you eat) made with: tahini with lemon and salt, cane molasses with soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and lemon vine flour sprinkled on the plate.
RECEITA
Preparo:
Salada de almeirão roxo, serralha, ora-pro-nóbis, limão e rabanete marinados no suco de limão e finalizados com azeite e sal. Na base, um molho decomposto (para se misturar conforme se come) feito com: tahine com limão e sal, melado de cana com shoyo e aceto balsâmico, azeite, sal e farinha de ora-pro-nóbis polvilhados no prato.
¹ Sonchus oleraceus, found also as common sow thistle, smooth sow thistle, annual sow thistle, hare's colwort, hare's thistle, milky tassel, milk thistle and soft thistle. In Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham’s encyclopedia of magical herbs. Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications, 2008, p. 242. [T.N.]
² Pereskia aculeata, also known as Barbados gooseberry, blade-apple cactus, leaf cactus and rose cactus. In the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais, the popular and highly used plant is known as ora-pro-nóbis. In Pedroni, F. & M. Sanchez. “Seed dispersal of Pereskia aculeata Muller (Cactaceae) in forest fragment in southeast Brazil”. Revista Brasileira de Biologia n. 57, 1997, pp. 479-486. [T.N.]
LETTER TO THE LIVING
Like a message put in a bottle and thrown into the sea, I send a letter. Inspired by the Letter to the Earth, by Geneviéve Azam¹, I also resort to the animosity attributed to Earth, as understanding that whatever part or being that arrives at it composes this multiform terrestrial body, thus fulfilling its destination.
This time, however, it will be necessary to devour the letter, make it lodged in the mouth and then, selectively, allow the physiological, physical and structural reorganization of the body, which is always remade through food. And as we always speak and think through collective bonds, I recall the words of Coccia, for whom the act of eating is a “proof that there is only one life, common to all living beings, capable of circulating between bodies and between species.²” Likewise, I have the feeling that thought also proceeds in this way, in transit, as stream, composition and bridging recomposition, challenging the sense of individuality.
CARTA AOS VIVENTES (original text in Portuguese)
Como uma mensagem colocada numa garrafa e lançada ao mar, envio uma carta. Inspirada pela Carta à Terra, de Geneviéve Azam³, recorro igualmente à animosidade atribuída à Terra, num entendimento de que independentemente de qualquer parte ou ser a que chegue, compõe ele esse corpo multiforme terrestre, fazendo-se assim cumprida a destinação.
Desta vez, no entanto, será preciso devorar a carta, fazê-la abrigar-se na boca e depois, seletivamente, permitir a reordenação fisiológica, física, estrutural do corpo, o qual é sempre refeito por meio do alimento. E como falamos e pensamos sempre por meio de laços coletivos, relembro as palavras de Coccia, para quem o ato de comer “nada mais é do que [...] a prova de que só há uma única vida, comum a todos os seres vivos, apta a circular entre corpos e espécies.⁴” De igual modo, tenho a sensação de que o pensamento procede também assim, em trânsito, fluxo, composição e recomposição atravessadora, desafiando o senso de individualidade.
This letter’s envelope is made of banana tree leaves, a plant that widely makes up so many Brazilian landscapes that it could serve as a territorial signature, despite arriving in the country only after colonization. To use the leaf, it needs to be softened with fire or hot water, so that it can be folded without tearing. Inside the letter, a cornmeal-based filling, so that together they evoke different recipes and narratives: the cubu (a sweet dish made of cornmeal, rolled in the same leaf and roasted), the pamonha (corn-based rolled in corn leaf and stewed), the angu (made of blanched cornmeal) and pastel de angu (made with similar recipe from the previous dish, but stuffed) are some of them, although we could list many others (especially when crossing the Brazilian borders and reaching other peoples of the corn⁵).
O envelope dessa carta é feito de folha de bananeira, planta que compõe tão largamente tantas paisagens brasileiras que poderia servir de assinatura territorial, apesar de terem aqui chegado apenas depois da colonização. Para usá-la, precisa ser amaciada com fogo ou água quente, para permitir assim a dobradura sem se rasgar. Por dentro, um recheio a base de fubá de milho, de modo que juntos evocam diversos receituários e narrativas: o cubu (doce, feito de fubá, enrolado pela mesma folha e assado), a pamonha (a base de milho, enrolada na folha do milho e cozida), o angu (feito de fubá escaldado com água) e o pastel de angu (feito com base similar à da receita anterior, mas recheado) são algumas delas, embora poderíamos listar muitas outras (sobretudo cruzando a fronteira do Brasil e alcançando outros povos do milho).
In this dough, the vegetable maria-gondó, or capiçoba⁶, was added to the cornmeal, a common association in Minas Gerais realms recalled by the farmer Vera, who has in her old and recent memory the angu finished with its leaves. To bind it together, looking for a reference of an adaptation I have already made before for the cubu dough, a piece of cooked yam is added, and also water and oil. To preserve the envelope, it was sealed with a lemonvine thorn and steamed.
Nessa massa juntou-se ao fubá a hortaliça maria-gondó, ou capiçoba, um encontro comum pelas bandas de Minas Gerais trazido pelas lembranças da agricultora Vera, que tem em sua memória antiga e recente o angu finalizado com suas folhas. Para dar liga, buscando a referência de uma adaptação que já fiz antes da massa do cubu, soma-se à massa um pedaço de inhame cozido, além da água e óleo. Para preservação do envelope, este foi selado com um espinho de ora-pro-nóbis do quintal e colocado à vapor.
As a side dish, we moved to another part of the banana tree, the navel part or mangará, its fruit and flower bud that, after being thinly chopped and soaked in water with vinegar (discharged and replaced a few times), was transformed into an antipasto and served on its own leaf, reserved for that end. As an element added to the letter, it raises a serious and simple question: “since the banana is the second most consumed fruit in the whole world, why don't you eat me?” The fact is that despite being part of the gastronomic memory and resistance of Minas Gerais state’s countryside, especially as a filling for the pastel de angu (a wonderful combination, by the way), the navel part is systematically discarded from the banana production chain, something incomprehensible.
Once the letter is released, it is expected that it arrives as an invitation to rumination, that superior way developed by bovine animals in delaying digestion, and which is similar, as has been said before, to the activity of thought, expanding here the act of eating and its redoing as a double and concomitant experience.
Como acompanhamento, nos deslocamos para outra parte da bananeira, o umbigo ou mangará, seu fruto e flor que, depois de laminado e descansado em água com vinagre (trocada algumas vezes), foi transformado em um antepasto e servido em sua própria folha, que reservamos para isso. Como elemento agregado à carta, ele traz uma grave e simples questão: “sendo a banana o segundo fruto mais consumido no mundo inteiro, porque vocês não me comem?” O fato é que apesar de fazer parte da memória e resistência gastronômica do interior de Minas Gerais, sobretudo como recheio do pastel de angu (combinação maravilhosa, por sinal), o umbigo é sistematicamente descartado da cadeia produtiva da banana, o que é incompreensível.
Lançada a carta, espera-se que lhe chegue como convite à ruminação, esse modo superior desenvolvido pelos bovinos de se demorarem na digestão e que se assemelha, já disseram antes, à atividade do pensamento, estendendo aqui o comer e refazer-se nesse ato como experiência dupla, concomitante.
RECIPE
DOUGH
100g Cornmeal
Water
Maria-gondó torn leaves
1 Teaspoon turmeric powder
½ Small yam, peeled, boiled and mashed
1 Spoon of olive oil
Salt to taste
RECEITA
MASSA
100g fubá
Água
Folhas de Maria Gondó rasgadas
1 colher de chá de açafrão em pó
½ inhame pequeno cozido sem casca amassado
1 colher de azeite
Sal a gosto
Method:
Mix all the ingredients adding warm water gradually until the dough releases itself from your hands. At this point, it is ready to be molded to stuff the envelope.
Preparo:
Misturar todos os ingredientes acrescentando água morna aos poucos até que a massa se desprenda das mãos. Nesse ponto ela está pronto para ser moldada e rechear o envelope.
BANANA TREE LEAF (ENVELOPE)
After cleaning, put it in hot water for 2 minutes to soften the fibers. For the production of the envelope, it was cut into a square, the base shape for the folding.
FOLHA DE BANANEIRA (ENVELOPE)
Depois de higienizada, colocar por 2 minutos em água quente para amolecer as fibras. Para produção do envelope ela foi cortada em quadrado, forma base para a dobradura.
BANANA TREE NAVEL PART (SIDE DISH)
1 medium banana navel part
½ Leek
2 Garlic cloves
Cashew nuts, crushed
Wild coriander
Pinch of grounded spiked pepper⁷
Balsamic or lime vinegar
Olive oil
UMBIGO DE BANANA (ACOMPANHAMENTO)
Um umbigo de banana médio
½ Alho poro
2 dentes de alho
Castanha de caju triturada
Coentro selvagem
Pitada de pimenta de macaco moída
Aceto balsâmico ou limão
Azeite
Preparation:
The navel can be entirely used, only the damaged leaves should be removed. Thinly chop and immediately place it in a container covered with water and vinegar (3 full spoons per medium navel). After discharging and renewing this water three or four times, it will have lost its bitterness, being able to be used in any preparation.
Pré-preparo:
O umbigo pode ser usado integralmente, devendo ser retiradas apenas as folhas danificadas. Laminar e colocar imediatamente em um recipiente coberto por água e vinagre (3 colheres cheias por umbigo médio). Depois de descartar e renovar três ou quatro vezes essa água ele terá perdido o amargor, ficando apto para ser usado em qualquer preparo.
Method:
After simmering the leeks with the garlic, add the navel, the cashew nuts and the seasonings until you get a pleasant texture. Finish with olive oil and vinegar or lime to balance the acidity.
Preparo:
Depois de refogar o alho poro junto ao alho, acrescentar o umbigo, as castanhas e os temperos até chegar a uma textura agradável. Finalizar com azeite e aceto ou limão para equilibrar a acidez.
¹ Azam, Geneviève. Lettre à la Terre et la terre répond. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2019.
Brazilian edition Carta à Terra, Belo Horizonte: Relicário, 2020. [T.N.]
² Coccia, Emanuele. Metamorphoses. Translated by Robin Mackay. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2021, p. 90.
Brazilian edition Metamorfoses. Rio de Janeiro: Dantes Editora, 2020. [T.N.]
³ Geneviève Azam, Carta à Terra, Belo Horizonte, Relicário, 2020.
⁴ Emanuele Coccia, Metamorfoses, Rio de Janeiro, Dantes Editora, 2020.
⁵ Expression used to characterize the different civilizations and peoples from the central and southern portion of the American continent that traditionally use corn as the basis of their diet. In Santini, Christina. “The People of the Corn”. Cultural Survival. Available at <https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/people-corn>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁶ The capiçoba is a botanical species of the Asteraceae family, native to South America and spread from Mexico do Argentina. It is also called gondó, maria-gondó, capiçova, cariçoba, caperiçoba, copiçoba, capiçoba-vermelha, caruru amaroso, voadeira-preta, maria-gomes and maria-nica. In Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. Available at <https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/capicoba/>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁷ Piper aduncum, known as spiked pepper, matico, hierba del soldado, achotlín, cordoncillo, higuillo or higuillo de hoja menuda. It grows on the coasts and forests in Central and South America. In Gaia, J; Mota, M; Conceição, C; Maia, J. “Spiked pepper: selection of clones toward cropping on the edaphoclimatic conditions from Belém, Brazil.” Horticultura Brasileira, n. 28, 2010, pp. 418-423. [T.N.]
LETTER TO THE LIVING
Like a message put in a bottle and thrown into the sea, I send a letter. Inspired by the Letter to the Earth, by Geneviéve Azam¹, I also resort to the animosity attributed to Earth, as understanding that whatever part or being that arrives at it composes this multiform terrestrial body, thus fulfilling its destination.
This time, however, it will be necessary to devour the letter, make it lodged in the mouth and then, selectively, allow the physiological, physical and structural reorganization of the body, which is always remade through food. And as we always speak and think through collective bonds, I recall the words of Coccia, for whom the act of eating is a “proof that there is only one life, common to all living beings, capable of circulating between bodies and between species.²” Likewise, I have the feeling that thought also proceeds in this way, in transit, as stream, composition and bridging recomposition, challenging the sense of individuality.
CARTA AOS VIVENTES (original text in Portuguese)
Como uma mensagem colocada numa garrafa e lançada ao mar, envio uma carta. Inspirada pela Carta à Terra, de Geneviéve Azam³, recorro igualmente à animosidade atribuída à Terra, num entendimento de que independentemente de qualquer parte ou ser a que chegue, compõe ele esse corpo multiforme terrestre, fazendo-se assim cumprida a destinação.
Desta vez, no entanto, será preciso devorar a carta, fazê-la abrigar-se na boca e depois, seletivamente, permitir a reordenação fisiológica, física, estrutural do corpo, o qual é sempre refeito por meio do alimento. E como falamos e pensamos sempre por meio de laços coletivos, relembro as palavras de Coccia, para quem o ato de comer “nada mais é do que [...] a prova de que só há uma única vida, comum a todos os seres vivos, apta a circular entre corpos e espécies.⁴” De igual modo, tenho a sensação de que o pensamento procede também assim, em trânsito, fluxo, composição e recomposição atravessadora, desafiando o senso de individualidade.
This letter’s envelope is made of banana tree leaves, a plant that widely makes up so many Brazilian landscapes that it could serve as a territorial signature, despite arriving in the country only after colonization. To use the leaf, it needs to be softened with fire or hot water, so that it can be folded without tearing. Inside the letter, a cornmeal-based filling, so that together they evoke different recipes and narratives: the cubu (a sweet dish made of cornmeal, rolled in the same leaf and roasted), the pamonha (corn-based rolled in corn leaf and stewed), the angu (made of blanched cornmeal) and pastel de angu (made with similar recipe from the previous dish, but stuffed) are some of them, although we could list many others (especially when crossing the Brazilian borders and reaching other peoples of the corn⁵).
O envelope dessa carta é feito de folha de bananeira, planta que compõe tão largamente tantas paisagens brasileiras que poderia servir de assinatura territorial, apesar de terem aqui chegado apenas depois da colonização. Para usá-la, precisa ser amaciada com fogo ou água quente, para permitir assim a dobradura sem se rasgar. Por dentro, um recheio a base de fubá de milho, de modo que juntos evocam diversos receituários e narrativas: o cubu (doce, feito de fubá, enrolado pela mesma folha e assado), a pamonha (a base de milho, enrolada na folha do milho e cozida), o angu (feito de fubá escaldado com água) e o pastel de angu (feito com base similar à da receita anterior, mas recheado) são algumas delas, embora poderíamos listar muitas outras (sobretudo cruzando a fronteira do Brasil e alcançando outros povos do milho).
In this dough, the vegetable maria-gondó, or capiçoba⁶, was added to the cornmeal, a common association in Minas Gerais realms recalled by the farmer Vera, who has in her old and recent memory the angu finished with its leaves. To bind it together, looking for a reference of an adaptation I have already made before for the cubu dough, a piece of cooked yam is added, and also water and oil. To preserve the envelope, it was sealed with a lemonvine thorn and steamed.
Nessa massa juntou-se ao fubá a hortaliça maria-gondó, ou capiçoba, um encontro comum pelas bandas de Minas Gerais trazido pelas lembranças da agricultora Vera, que tem em sua memória antiga e recente o angu finalizado com suas folhas. Para dar liga, buscando a referência de uma adaptação que já fiz antes da massa do cubu, soma-se à massa um pedaço de inhame cozido, além da água e óleo. Para preservação do envelope, este foi selado com um espinho de ora-pro-nóbis do quintal e colocado à vapor.
As a side dish, we moved to another part of the banana tree, the navel part or mangará, its fruit and flower bud that, after being thinly chopped and soaked in water with vinegar (discharged and replaced a few times), was transformed into an antipasto and served on its own leaf, reserved for that end. As an element added to the letter, it raises a serious and simple question: “since the banana is the second most consumed fruit in the whole world, why don't you eat me?” The fact is that despite being part of the gastronomic memory and resistance of Minas Gerais state’s countryside, especially as a filling for the pastel de angu (a wonderful combination, by the way), the navel part is systematically discarded from the banana production chain, something incomprehensible.
Once the letter is released, it is expected that it arrives as an invitation to rumination, that superior way developed by bovine animals in delaying digestion, and which is similar, as has been said before, to the activity of thought, expanding here the act of eating and its redoing as a double and concomitant experience.
Como acompanhamento, nos deslocamos para outra parte da bananeira, o umbigo ou mangará, seu fruto e flor que, depois de laminado e descansado em água com vinagre (trocada algumas vezes), foi transformado em um antepasto e servido em sua própria folha, que reservamos para isso. Como elemento agregado à carta, ele traz uma grave e simples questão: “sendo a banana o segundo fruto mais consumido no mundo inteiro, porque vocês não me comem?” O fato é que apesar de fazer parte da memória e resistência gastronômica do interior de Minas Gerais, sobretudo como recheio do pastel de angu (combinação maravilhosa, por sinal), o umbigo é sistematicamente descartado da cadeia produtiva da banana, o que é incompreensível.
Lançada a carta, espera-se que lhe chegue como convite à ruminação, esse modo superior desenvolvido pelos bovinos de se demorarem na digestão e que se assemelha, já disseram antes, à atividade do pensamento, estendendo aqui o comer e refazer-se nesse ato como experiência dupla, concomitante.
RECIPE
DOUGH
100g Cornmeal
Water
Maria-gondó torn leaves
1 Teaspoon turmeric powder
½ Small yam, peeled, boiled and mashed
1 Spoon of olive oil
Salt to taste
RECEITA
MASSA
100g fubá
Água
Folhas de Maria Gondó rasgadas
1 colher de chá de açafrão em pó
½ inhame pequeno cozido sem casca amassado
1 colher de azeite
Sal a gosto
Method:
Mix all the ingredients adding warm water gradually until the dough releases itself from your hands. At this point, it is ready to be molded to stuff the envelope.
Preparo:
Misturar todos os ingredientes acrescentando água morna aos poucos até que a massa se desprenda das mãos. Nesse ponto ela está pronto para ser moldada e rechear o envelope.
BANANA TREE LEAF (ENVELOPE)
After cleaning, put it in hot water for 2 minutes to soften the fibers. For the production of the envelope, it was cut into a square, the base shape for the folding.
FOLHA DE BANANEIRA (ENVELOPE)
Depois de higienizada, colocar por 2 minutos em água quente para amolecer as fibras. Para produção do envelope ela foi cortada em quadrado, forma base para a dobradura.
BANANA TREE NAVEL PART (SIDE DISH)
1 medium banana navel part
½ Leek
2 Garlic cloves
Cashew nuts, crushed
Wild coriander
Pinch of grounded spiked pepper⁷
Balsamic or lime vinegar
Olive oil
UMBIGO DE BANANA (ACOMPANHAMENTO)
Um umbigo de banana médio
½ Alho poro
2 dentes de alho
Castanha de caju triturada
Coentro selvagem
Pitada de pimenta de macaco moída
Aceto balsâmico ou limão
Azeite
Preparation:
The navel can be entirely used, only the damaged leaves should be removed. Thinly chop and immediately place it in a container covered with water and vinegar (3 full spoons per medium navel). After discharging and renewing this water three or four times, it will have lost its bitterness, being able to be used in any preparation.
Pré-preparo:
O umbigo pode ser usado integralmente, devendo ser retiradas apenas as folhas danificadas. Laminar e colocar imediatamente em um recipiente coberto por água e vinagre (3 colheres cheias por umbigo médio). Depois de descartar e renovar três ou quatro vezes essa água ele terá perdido o amargor, ficando apto para ser usado em qualquer preparo.
Method:
After simmering the leeks with the garlic, add the navel, the cashew nuts and the seasonings until you get a pleasant texture. Finish with olive oil and vinegar or lime to balance the acidity.
Preparo:
Depois de refogar o alho poro junto ao alho, acrescentar o umbigo, as castanhas e os temperos até chegar a uma textura agradável. Finalizar com azeite e aceto ou limão para equilibrar a acidez.
¹ Azam, Geneviève. Lettre à la Terre et la terre répond. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2019.
Brazilian edition Carta à Terra, Belo Horizonte: Relicário, 2020. [T.N.]
² Coccia, Emanuele. Metamorphoses. Translated by Robin Mackay. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2021, p. 90.
Brazilian edition Metamorfoses. Rio de Janeiro: Dantes Editora, 2020. [T.N.]
³ Geneviève Azam, Carta à Terra, Belo Horizonte, Relicário, 2020.
⁴ Emanuele Coccia, Metamorfoses, Rio de Janeiro, Dantes Editora, 2020.
⁵ Expression used to characterize the different civilizations and peoples from the central and southern portion of the American continent that traditionally use corn as the basis of their diet. In Santini, Christina. “The People of the Corn”. Cultural Survival. Available at <https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/people-corn>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁶ The capiçoba is a botanical species of the Asteraceae family, native to South America and spread from Mexico do Argentina. It is also called gondó, maria-gondó, capiçova, cariçoba, caperiçoba, copiçoba, capiçoba-vermelha, caruru amaroso, voadeira-preta, maria-gomes and maria-nica. In Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. Available at <https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/capicoba/>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁷ Piper aduncum, known as spiked pepper, matico, hierba del soldado, achotlín, cordoncillo, higuillo or higuillo de hoja menuda. It grows on the coasts and forests in Central and South America. In Gaia, J; Mota, M; Conceição, C; Maia, J. “Spiked pepper: selection of clones toward cropping on the edaphoclimatic conditions from Belém, Brazil.” Horticultura Brasileira, n. 28, 2010, pp. 418-423. [T.N.]
CARÁ, AIR STONE
Formed by sedimentation, accumulation of inorganic matter and decomposition under pressure, the stones invite the appreciation of geological time, extended, free from haste and open to the diverse and adverse conditions that cross them and shape their physical constitution. Perhaps that is why, in an attempt to approach this temporality, there is the human practice of piling them up when in a state of nature contemplation – a quest to approach that calm from which civilized human time has moved away.
CARÁ, PEDRA DO AR (original text in Portuguese)
Formadas por sedimentação, acúmulo de matéria inorgânica e decomposição sob pressão, as pedras convidam a apreciação do tempo geológico, estendido, livre da pressa e aberto às condições diversas e adversas que as atravessam e moldam sua constituição física. Talvez por isso, na tentativa de aproximar-se dessa temporalidade, haja a prática humana de empilhá-las quando em estado de contemplação da natureza – uma busca por acercar-se dessa calma da qual o tempo humano civilizado se afastou.
Looking at a being that sometimes dates back to the passage of eras makes insignificant – perhaps, in return – the minutes and hours in the life of beings of short passage like us. A perception that, however, allows us to measure what we want to carry with us, our memories and armoury of importances.
On a visit to the Raio de Luz agroecological garden, Lúcia, the founder farmer who has been taking care of it since 2017, brought the cará-moela or cará-do-ar¹ as a mouth-watering element of memory. It is a kind of yam (from the same family) that we don't usually find easily in urban markets. Supposedly brought from West Africa, the tubercle was easily adapted to a large swath of Brazilian soil, being traditionally cultivated by quilombolas, caboclos and riverside populations. In the form of a vine, it looks like a suspended stone and is extremely resistant – it can last up to three months after harvesting with little nutritional loss. An information that, combined with its pleasant flavor and texture (between a yam and a potato) and its perennial production nature, causes perplexity in face of its small circulation.
Olhar para um ser que remonta por vezes à passagem de eras torna insignificantes, talvez, por devolução, os minutos e as horas na vida de seres de travessia breve como nós. Percepção que, no entanto, nos permite medir aquilo que queremos carregar conosco, as memórias e arsenal de importâncias.
Em visita à horta agroecológica Raio de Luz, Lúcia, a agricultora que a fundou e cuida desde 2017, trouxe o cará-moela ou cará-do-ar como elemento de memória e água na boca. Uma espécie de cará, inhame (da mesma família) que não costumamos encontrar com facilidade nos mercados urbanos. Trazido supostamente do oeste da África, o tubérculo teve fácil adaptação a grande faixa do solo brasileiro, sendo cultivado tradicionalmente por quilombolas, caboclos e ribeirinhos. Em forma de trepadeira, tem aspecto de pedra suspensa e é extremamente resistente – pode durar até três meses depois de sua colheita, com pouca perda nutricional. Informação que, junto ao seu sabor e textura agradáveis, entre um cará e uma batata, e sua natureza perene de produção, causa estranhamento diante dessa pequena circulação.
Lúcia usually cooks it into a dumpling, seasoned with parsley. Not having so much time to prove it, I take with me her wisdom and memories and started from the ever-becoming stone state of the air potato towards a path leading to my personal way of rescaling its memory – I recall the famous quote from poet Waly Salomão, “Memory is an editing station²”. And to rescale also means bringing tradition and memory to the shifting and misshaped present in which we can build new narratives.
In layers that would preserve its shape, I interspersed the tubercle with garlic and lemonvine leaves [ora-pro-nobis], another vine, this one a leaf that, with little commercial circulation, composes my narrative and has always been present in my grandmother's backyard. Its name comes from the Latin, “pray for us”, and dates back to colonial times. They say that in the colonial period, in the city of Sabará, in Minas Gerais state, there were large vegetable bushes around the church, but the vicar did not allow anyone to harvest it (terrible, right?), so the enslaved people took advantage of the praying moments to collect it. Besides being tasty, its leaves are considered superfoods due to the protein quality they possess.
Lúcia costuma fazer dele um bolinho, temperado com salsinha. Não havendo tanto tempo para prová-lo, levando comigo sua sabedoria e lembranças, parti do devir pedra do cará aéreo para um translado rumo à minha forma pessoal de redimensionar sua memória – lembrando aqui a célebre frase do poeta Waly Salomão, “A memória é uma ilha de edição”. E redimensionar significa também trazer a tradição e memória para o presente, movediço e disforme, no qual podemos construir novas narrativas.
Em camadas que preservassem sua forma, intercalei o tubérculo com alho e folhas de ora-pro-nóbis, outra trepadeira, esta sim uma folha que, com pequena circulação comercial, compõe minha narrativa e sempre esteve presente no quintal de minha vó. Seu nome advém do latim, “orai por nós”, e remonta aos tempos coloniais. Dizem que no período colonial, na cidade de Sabará, interior de Minas, havia em torno da igreja grandes moitas da hortaliça, mas que o padre não permitia colher (horrível, não?), de modo que os escravizados aproveitavam os momentos de oração para coletar. Além de saboroso, suas folhas são consideradas superalimentos devido a qualidade proteica que possuem.
To rescale also means bringing tradition and memory to the shifting and misshaped present in which we can build new narratives.
On top of the layered pie I also added a lemonvine’s fruit confit. Very little used and, for reasons unknown to me, rare to be found, the fruit is rounded and yellow, with a firm but pleasant skin, and carries light acidity and sweetness. The result is wonderful and allows this preciousness a longer lifetime. To season it, I used dried quitoco flowers, an herb which complexly combines black pepper and cloves, and was already very present in ancient kitchens, that can be used for this purpose from stems to leaves and flowers. Vera, the farmer who introduced me to this gem, creates a high-quality ready-to-eat seasoning with the quitoco³ and a selection of herbs, which she sells at a street fair along with her other productions.
Memory, sedimentation and recreation. This layered pie invites us on a collective and unifying journey against the project of oblivion to which diversity has been demoted by monocultures. A mining that touches different time-spaces to co-create in the present, stone by stone, the architects that we are, the world we want to live in.
Sobre a torta em camadas somei ainda o fruto do ora-pro-nóbis confitado. Pouquíssimo utilizado e, por motivo que desconheço, raro de ser encontrado, o fruto é amarelo arredondado, possui uma casca firme, mas agradável, e tem acidez e doçura leves. O resultado é maravilhoso e permite uma duração maior dessa preciosidade. Para temperá-lo usei flores secas de quitoco, uma erva que combina com complexidade a pimenta do reino e o cravo e já esteve muito presente nas cozinhas antigas, podendo ser utilizada com essa finalidade dos caules às folhas e flores. Com o quitoco, junto a um apanhado de ervas, Vera, a agricultora que me apresentou essa preciosidade, produz um tempero pronto de alta qualidade, o qual vende na feira junto a sua produção.
Memória, sedimentação e recriação. Essa torta em camadas convida-nos a uma jornada coletiva e aglutinadora contra o projeto de esquecimento a que a diversidade foi relegada nas monoculturas. Um garimpo que tangencia tempo-espaços diversos para cocriarmos no presente, pedra por pedra, arquitetos que somos, o mundo em que queremos viver.
RECIPE
DOUGH
2 Air potatoes thinly chopped
Lemon vine leaves
Quitoco powder
Salt to taste
Olive oil
RECEITA
MASSA
2 carás-do-ar laminados
Folhas de ora-pro-nóbis
Quitoco em pó
Sal a gosto
Azeite
Method:
Grease the pan. As assembling the pie, scatter the air potato sheets with lemonvine leaves, sprinkling quitoco, salt and oil. The air potato has its own mucilage, so the elements incorporate themselves thoroughly. Bake at 180 degrees for approximately 35 minutes.
Preparo:
Untar a forma. Na montagem, intercalar as lâminas de cará-do-ar com as folhas de ora-pro-nóbis, polvilhando quitoco, sal e azeite. O cará possui uma mucilagem própria, de modo que os elementos ficarão unidos. Levar ao forno a 180 graus por aproximadamente 35 minutos.
LEMON VINE FRUITS (TOPPING)
200g ripe lemon vine fruits
Garlic thinly chopped
Olive oil and sunflower oil
1 spoon of cane molasses
Jaboticaba⁴ Vinegar (or other vinegar of your choice)
1 spoon of spiked pepper
Parsley flowers
Salt to taste
FRUTOS DE ORA-PRO-NÓBIS (FINALIZAÇĀO)
200 gramas de frutos maduros de ora-pro-nóbis
Lâminas de alho
Azeite e óleo de girassol
1 colher de Melado de cana
Vinagre de jaboticaba (ou outro de sua preferência)
1 colher de pimenta de macaco
Flores de salsinha
Sal a gosto
Method:
The fruits present delicate thorns around them. Soak the fruits in water and then carefully skim the thorns off in order to remove them. They will easily detach but it's always good to check if there are any left. After washing, mash them so that the seasoning penetrates well (their skin is firm, so it won't fall apart). Finally, place them next to the garlic on a tray covered with olive oil, sunflower oil, salt, spices and molasses. Finish with vinegar to balance the acidity.
Preparo:
Os frutos possuem espinhos delicados ao redor. Para removê-los, deixe-os de molho na água e depois a remova com cuidado. Eles sairão sozinhos, mas é sempre bom avaliar se restou algum. Depois de lavados, amasse-os para que o tempero penetre bem (sua casca é firme, então não irá se desmanchar). Por último, coloque-os junto ao alho em um tabuleiro cobertos por azeite, óleo de girassol, sal, temperos e melado. Finalize com o vinagre balanceando a acidez.
PURÉE (SIDE DISH)
250g cashew nuts
2 Tablespoons of quinoa rejuvelac
½ Beet
PASTA DE ACOMPANHAMENTO:
250 g de castanha de caju
2 colheres de rejuvelac de quinoa
½ beterraba
Method:
After soaking the cashew nuts and discarding the water, put them in the blender along with the beet and as little water as necessary, until obtaining a homogeneous batter. Add the spoons of rejuvelac (or other fermentation element of choice) and wait for fermentation (the time depends on the weather). Only at the end, add the salt so as not to interfere with the process.
Preparo:
Depois de deixar as castanhas de molho e descartar essa água, batê-las no liquidificador junto a beterraba, com o mínimo de água necessário, até obter uma massa homogênea. Acrescentar as colheres de rejuvelac (ou outra isca de fermentação de sua escolha) e aguardar sua fermentação (variável de acordo com o clima). Só então, ao final, acrescentar o sal para não interferir no processo.
Reference
Valderly Ferreira Kinupp e Harri Lorenzi, Plantas Alimentícias não Convencionais (PANC) no Brasil: guia de identificação, aspectos nutricionais e receitas ilustradas, São Paulo, Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, 2014.
Slow Food, A arca do gosto no Brasil: alimentos, conhecimentos e histórias do patrimônio gastronômico, São Paulo, Slow Food Editore, 2017.
Referência:
Valderly Ferreira Kinupp e Harri Lorenzi, Plantas Alimentícias não Convencionais (PANC) no Brasil: guia de identificação, aspectos nutricionais e receitas ilustradas, São Paulo, Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, 2014.
Slow Food, A arca do gosto no Brasil: alimentos, conhecimentos e histórias do patrimônio gastronômico, São Paulo, Slow Food Editore, 2017.
¹ Dioscorea bulbifera, commonly known as the air potato, air yam, bitter yam, cheeky yam, potato yam, aerial yam, and parsnip yam, native to Africa, Asia and northern Australia. Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida. Available at <https://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/dioscorea-bulbifera/>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
² “A memória é uma ilha de edição”, this excerpt is found at the poem Carta aberta a John Ashbery. In Salomão, Waly. Algaravias. São Paulo: Editora Rocco, 2007. [T.N.]
³ Pluchea sagittalis, known as lucera, lusera, yerba del lucero, lucero, quitoc or quitoco. It is distributed among Bolivian, Brazilian, Paraguayan and Argentinian territories. In Argentinat. Available at <https://www.argentinat.org/taxa/167072-Pluchea-sagittalis>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁴ Plinia cauliflora, jaboticaba is native to southeastern Brazil and has been introduced to other warm regions, including western and southern North America. The tree is also known as Brazilian grape tree and the fruits can be eaten raw and are commonly used to make wines and jellies. In Brittanica, available at <https://www.britannica.com/plant/jaboticaba-Plinia>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
CARÁ, AIR STONE
Formed by sedimentation, accumulation of inorganic matter and decomposition under pressure, the stones invite the appreciation of geological time, extended, free from haste and open to the diverse and adverse conditions that cross them and shape their physical constitution. Perhaps that is why, in an attempt to approach this temporality, there is the human practice of piling them up when in a state of nature contemplation – a quest to approach that calm from which civilized human time has moved away.
CARÁ, PEDRA DO AR (original text in Portuguese)
Formadas por sedimentação, acúmulo de matéria inorgânica e decomposição sob pressão, as pedras convidam a apreciação do tempo geológico, estendido, livre da pressa e aberto às condições diversas e adversas que as atravessam e moldam sua constituição física. Talvez por isso, na tentativa de aproximar-se dessa temporalidade, haja a prática humana de empilhá-las quando em estado de contemplação da natureza – uma busca por acercar-se dessa calma da qual o tempo humano civilizado se afastou.
Looking at a being that sometimes dates back to the passage of eras makes insignificant – perhaps, in return – the minutes and hours in the life of beings of short passage like us. A perception that, however, allows us to measure what we want to carry with us, our memories and armoury of importances.
On a visit to the Raio de Luz agroecological garden, Lúcia, the founder farmer who has been taking care of it since 2017, brought the cará-moela or cará-do-ar¹ as a mouth-watering element of memory. It is a kind of yam (from the same family) that we don't usually find easily in urban markets. Supposedly brought from West Africa, the tubercle was easily adapted to a large swath of Brazilian soil, being traditionally cultivated by quilombolas, caboclos and riverside populations. In the form of a vine, it looks like a suspended stone and is extremely resistant – it can last up to three months after harvesting with little nutritional loss. An information that, combined with its pleasant flavor and texture (between a yam and a potato) and its perennial production nature, causes perplexity in face of its small circulation.
Olhar para um ser que remonta por vezes à passagem de eras torna insignificantes, talvez, por devolução, os minutos e as horas na vida de seres de travessia breve como nós. Percepção que, no entanto, nos permite medir aquilo que queremos carregar conosco, as memórias e arsenal de importâncias.
Em visita à horta agroecológica Raio de Luz, Lúcia, a agricultora que a fundou e cuida desde 2017, trouxe o cará-moela ou cará-do-ar como elemento de memória e água na boca. Uma espécie de cará, inhame (da mesma família) que não costumamos encontrar com facilidade nos mercados urbanos. Trazido supostamente do oeste da África, o tubérculo teve fácil adaptação a grande faixa do solo brasileiro, sendo cultivado tradicionalmente por quilombolas, caboclos e ribeirinhos. Em forma de trepadeira, tem aspecto de pedra suspensa e é extremamente resistente – pode durar até três meses depois de sua colheita, com pouca perda nutricional. Informação que, junto ao seu sabor e textura agradáveis, entre um cará e uma batata, e sua natureza perene de produção, causa estranhamento diante dessa pequena circulação.
Lúcia usually cooks it into a dumpling, seasoned with parsley. Not having so much time to prove it, I take with me her wisdom and memories and started from the ever-becoming stone state of the air potato towards a path leading to my personal way of rescaling its memory – I recall the famous quote from poet Waly Salomão, “Memory is an editing station²”. And to rescale also means bringing tradition and memory to the shifting and misshaped present in which we can build new narratives.
In layers that would preserve its shape, I interspersed the tubercle with garlic and lemonvine leaves [ora-pro-nobis], another vine, this one a leaf that, with little commercial circulation, composes my narrative and has always been present in my grandmother's backyard. Its name comes from the Latin, “pray for us”, and dates back to colonial times. They say that in the colonial period, in the city of Sabará, in Minas Gerais state, there were large vegetable bushes around the church, but the vicar did not allow anyone to harvest it (terrible, right?), so the enslaved people took advantage of the praying moments to collect it. Besides being tasty, its leaves are considered superfoods due to the protein quality they possess.
Lúcia costuma fazer dele um bolinho, temperado com salsinha. Não havendo tanto tempo para prová-lo, levando comigo sua sabedoria e lembranças, parti do devir pedra do cará aéreo para um translado rumo à minha forma pessoal de redimensionar sua memória – lembrando aqui a célebre frase do poeta Waly Salomão, “A memória é uma ilha de edição”. E redimensionar significa também trazer a tradição e memória para o presente, movediço e disforme, no qual podemos construir novas narrativas.
Em camadas que preservassem sua forma, intercalei o tubérculo com alho e folhas de ora-pro-nóbis, outra trepadeira, esta sim uma folha que, com pequena circulação comercial, compõe minha narrativa e sempre esteve presente no quintal de minha vó. Seu nome advém do latim, “orai por nós”, e remonta aos tempos coloniais. Dizem que no período colonial, na cidade de Sabará, interior de Minas, havia em torno da igreja grandes moitas da hortaliça, mas que o padre não permitia colher (horrível, não?), de modo que os escravizados aproveitavam os momentos de oração para coletar. Além de saboroso, suas folhas são consideradas superalimentos devido a qualidade proteica que possuem.
To rescale also means bringing tradition and memory to the shifting and misshaped present in which we can build new narratives.
On top of the layered pie I also added a lemonvine’s fruit confit. Very little used and, for reasons unknown to me, rare to be found, the fruit is rounded and yellow, with a firm but pleasant skin, and carries light acidity and sweetness. The result is wonderful and allows this preciousness a longer lifetime. To season it, I used dried quitoco flowers, an herb which complexly combines black pepper and cloves, and was already very present in ancient kitchens, that can be used for this purpose from stems to leaves and flowers. Vera, the farmer who introduced me to this gem, creates a high-quality ready-to-eat seasoning with the quitoco³ and a selection of herbs, which she sells at a street fair along with her other productions.
Memory, sedimentation and recreation. This layered pie invites us on a collective and unifying journey against the project of oblivion to which diversity has been demoted by monocultures. A mining that touches different time-spaces to co-create in the present, stone by stone, the architects that we are, the world we want to live in.
Sobre a torta em camadas somei ainda o fruto do ora-pro-nóbis confitado. Pouquíssimo utilizado e, por motivo que desconheço, raro de ser encontrado, o fruto é amarelo arredondado, possui uma casca firme, mas agradável, e tem acidez e doçura leves. O resultado é maravilhoso e permite uma duração maior dessa preciosidade. Para temperá-lo usei flores secas de quitoco, uma erva que combina com complexidade a pimenta do reino e o cravo e já esteve muito presente nas cozinhas antigas, podendo ser utilizada com essa finalidade dos caules às folhas e flores. Com o quitoco, junto a um apanhado de ervas, Vera, a agricultora que me apresentou essa preciosidade, produz um tempero pronto de alta qualidade, o qual vende na feira junto a sua produção.
Memória, sedimentação e recriação. Essa torta em camadas convida-nos a uma jornada coletiva e aglutinadora contra o projeto de esquecimento a que a diversidade foi relegada nas monoculturas. Um garimpo que tangencia tempo-espaços diversos para cocriarmos no presente, pedra por pedra, arquitetos que somos, o mundo em que queremos viver.
RECIPE
DOUGH
2 Air potatoes thinly chopped
Lemon vine leaves
Quitoco powder
Salt to taste
Olive oil
RECEITA
MASSA
2 carás-do-ar laminados
Folhas de ora-pro-nóbis
Quitoco em pó
Sal a gosto
Azeite
Method:
Grease the pan. As assembling the pie, scatter the air potato sheets with lemonvine leaves, sprinkling quitoco, salt and oil. The air potato has its own mucilage, so the elements incorporate themselves thoroughly. Bake at 180 degrees for approximately 35 minutes.
Preparo:
Untar a forma. Na montagem, intercalar as lâminas de cará-do-ar com as folhas de ora-pro-nóbis, polvilhando quitoco, sal e azeite. O cará possui uma mucilagem própria, de modo que os elementos ficarão unidos. Levar ao forno a 180 graus por aproximadamente 35 minutos.
LEMON VINE FRUITS (TOPPING)
200g ripe lemon vine fruits
Garlic thinly chopped
Olive oil and sunflower oil
1 spoon of cane molasses
Jaboticaba⁴ Vinegar (or other vinegar of your choice)
1 spoon of spiked pepper
Parsley flowers
Salt to taste
FRUTOS DE ORA-PRO-NÓBIS (FINALIZAÇĀO)
200 gramas de frutos maduros de ora-pro-nóbis
Lâminas de alho
Azeite e óleo de girassol
1 colher de Melado de cana
Vinagre de jaboticaba (ou outro de sua preferência)
1 colher de pimenta de macaco
Flores de salsinha
Sal a gosto
Method:
The fruits present delicate thorns around them. Soak the fruits in water and then carefully skim the thorns off in order to remove them. They will easily detach but it's always good to check if there are any left. After washing, mash them so that the seasoning penetrates well (their skin is firm, so it won't fall apart). Finally, place them next to the garlic on a tray covered with olive oil, sunflower oil, salt, spices and molasses. Finish with vinegar to balance the acidity.
Preparo:
Os frutos possuem espinhos delicados ao redor. Para removê-los, deixe-os de molho na água e depois a remova com cuidado. Eles sairão sozinhos, mas é sempre bom avaliar se restou algum. Depois de lavados, amasse-os para que o tempero penetre bem (sua casca é firme, então não irá se desmanchar). Por último, coloque-os junto ao alho em um tabuleiro cobertos por azeite, óleo de girassol, sal, temperos e melado. Finalize com o vinagre balanceando a acidez.
PURÉE (SIDE DISH)
250g cashew nuts
2 Tablespoons of quinoa rejuvelac
½ Beet
PASTA DE ACOMPANHAMENTO:
250 g de castanha de caju
2 colheres de rejuvelac de quinoa
½ beterraba
Method:
After soaking the cashew nuts and discarding the water, put them in the blender along with the beet and as little water as necessary, until obtaining a homogeneous batter. Add the spoons of rejuvelac (or other fermentation element of choice) and wait for fermentation (the time depends on the weather). Only at the end, add the salt so as not to interfere with the process.
Preparo:
Depois de deixar as castanhas de molho e descartar essa água, batê-las no liquidificador junto a beterraba, com o mínimo de água necessário, até obter uma massa homogênea. Acrescentar as colheres de rejuvelac (ou outra isca de fermentação de sua escolha) e aguardar sua fermentação (variável de acordo com o clima). Só então, ao final, acrescentar o sal para não interferir no processo.
Reference
Valderly Ferreira Kinupp e Harri Lorenzi, Plantas Alimentícias não Convencionais (PANC) no Brasil: guia de identificação, aspectos nutricionais e receitas ilustradas, São Paulo, Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, 2014.
Slow Food, A arca do gosto no Brasil: alimentos, conhecimentos e histórias do patrimônio gastronômico, São Paulo, Slow Food Editore, 2017.
Referência:
Valderly Ferreira Kinupp e Harri Lorenzi, Plantas Alimentícias não Convencionais (PANC) no Brasil: guia de identificação, aspectos nutricionais e receitas ilustradas, São Paulo, Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, 2014.
Slow Food, A arca do gosto no Brasil: alimentos, conhecimentos e histórias do patrimônio gastronômico, São Paulo, Slow Food Editore, 2017.
¹ Dioscorea bulbifera, commonly known as the air potato, air yam, bitter yam, cheeky yam, potato yam, aerial yam, and parsnip yam, native to Africa, Asia and northern Australia. Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida. Available at <https://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/dioscorea-bulbifera/>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
² “A memória é uma ilha de edição”, this excerpt is found at the poem Carta aberta a John Ashbery. In Salomão, Waly. Algaravias. São Paulo: Editora Rocco, 2007. [T.N.]
³ Pluchea sagittalis, known as lucera, lusera, yerba del lucero, lucero, quitoc or quitoco. It is distributed among Bolivian, Brazilian, Paraguayan and Argentinian territories. In Argentinat. Available at <https://www.argentinat.org/taxa/167072-Pluchea-sagittalis>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁴ Plinia cauliflora, jaboticaba is native to southeastern Brazil and has been introduced to other warm regions, including western and southern North America. The tree is also known as Brazilian grape tree and the fruits can be eaten raw and are commonly used to make wines and jellies. In Brittanica, available at <https://www.britannica.com/plant/jaboticaba-Plinia>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
PANGEA
Millions of years ago, heading east by land in Brazil, it was possible to reach Africa. As this narrative dates to times that go back to the Paleozoic Era, we were not here, naturally, to enjoy this closeness. But, as a poetic and political tool, we can dream of this Pangea, imagining in a plate, or a collection of words, a strengthening of ties between the native Brazilian and African peoples through a non-violent and decolonized narrative.
Okra, like many of the ingredients that occupy a central place in our culture, came from Africa, possibly Ethiopia, along with enslaved peoples, in the 17th century. And what we call pumpkin, in turn, consists of a wide variety that form the Cucurbitaceae family. What matters to us here, however, is the fact that, before Brazil was invaded by Portuguese settlers, the indigenous people already had it as one of their most important crops and ingredients, second only to cassava and corn.
PANGEIA (original text in Portuguese)
Há milhões de anos, rumando à leste por terra no Brasil era possível chegar à África. Sendo essa narrativa de tempos que remontam à Era Paleozoica, não estávamos aqui, naturalmente, para desfrutar dessa proximidade. Mas, enquanto ferramenta poética e política, podemos sonhar com essa Pangeia, imaginando num prato ou apanhado de palavras um estreitamento de laços entre os povos originários brasileiros e os africanos por meio de uma narrativa não violenta e descolonizada.
O quiabo, como muitos dos ingredientes que ocupam um lugar central em nossa cultura, veio da África, possivelmente da Etiópia, junto aos povos escravizados, no século XVII. E o que chamamos de abóbora, por sua vez, consiste de uma ampla variedade que compõe a família das Cucurbitáceas. O que nos importa aqui, no entanto, é o fato de que, antes de o Brasil ser invadido por colonos portugueses, os indígenas já a tinham como um dos seus cultivos e ingredientes mais importantes, perdendo apenas para a mandioca e o milho.
In the imaginary Pangea proposed here, they were united on a ceramic, which carries in the clay baked at high temperature, we can think, the memory of the hot earth, heated by the magma. A dish that invites geological time to cope with the narratives that cross, sometimes violently, the human time.
Nonetheless, okra and pumpkin forge specificities that they do not bear, since behind the shell that covers them with a name there is a turmoil of varieties sometimes programmatically forgotten. In this dish, however, variants are brought often out of commercial scope.
Nessa pangeia imaginária aqui proposta, uniram-se eles sobre uma cerâmica, que carrega, podemos pensar, no barro assado em alta temperatura, a memória da terra quente, aquecida pelo magma. Um prato que convida o tempo geológico para dar conta das narrativas que atravessam, por vezes com violência, o tempo humano.
Quiabo e abóbora aqui forjam, no entanto, especificidades que não comportam, visto que por traz da casca que os reveste de um nome há um alvoroço de variedades por vezes programaticamente esquecidas. Aqui neste prato são, no entanto, trazidas variantes escoadas muitas vezes para fora do escopo comercial.
Okra is known by the farmer Lúcia as 7 Galho and came to her through her mother’s hands, a woman with extensive knowledge of her kitchen and garden. The fruit has well-defined angulations – a star shape, when chopped –, it grows like a tree, unlike others of smaller size, and has large seeds. The abóbora pescoço [long pumpkin], as farmer Vera calls it, comes from creole seeds, a resistance perpetuated by family generations and also shared in the agroecological struggles in which she actively participates. It has a gourd-like shape, a striped skin, a fibrous and moist pulp (it releases a lot of water during cooking). Together, the flavor of knowledge is added as a seasoning to this dish when it reaches the maximum degree of potency: sharing.
O quiabo é conhecido pela agricultora Lúcia como 7 Galho e chegou a ela pelas mãos de sua mãe, mulher de largos conhecimentos em torno da horta e cozinha. Tem o fruto angulações bem definidas – formato estelar, quando laminado –, cresce como árvore, diferente de outros de porte menor, e possui sementes graúdas. Já a abóbora pescoço, como a chama a agricultura Vera, vem de semente crioula, uma resistência perpetuada por gerações de sua família e também partilhada nos meios de luta agroecológica dos quais ela participa ativamente. Tem um formato de cabaça, casca rajada, polpa fibrosa e úmida (libera bastante água durante o cozimento). Juntos, acrescem como tempero deste prato o sabor do conhecimento quando atinge o grau máximo de potência: a partilha.
The fruit has well
–defined angulations
– a star shape, when chopped
–, it grows like a tree, unlike others of smaller size, and has large seeds.
–defined angulations
– a star shape, when chopped
–, it grows like a tree, unlike others of smaller size, and has large seeds.
As speaking about sharing, in the Brazilian dish, okra and pumpkin usually go together. Almost always stewed, or, as they say around Minas Gerais, “afogadinhos” [“muffled”], an expression that has always touched me in a contradictory way. If, on the one hand, it exerts over me the power to bring out primordial gustatory memories, on the other hand, it causes me a kind of shiver. This is because, in the face of curiosity to know other narratives and ways of preparation, when you ask a traditional cook how she uses a given ingredient, she will answer you: “afogadinho”. That is, if you really want to learn more about this cuisine, you will need to dwell by their stove for a while or share a few liters of coffee before accessing the diverse universe of stew cooking. Moreover, generally speaking, to stew or to “muffle” [refogar ou afogar], in good Brazilian Portuguese, means to take onion and garlic to a pan with some fat and, normally afterwards, adding other elements, whatever they may be.
E, por falar em parcerias, no prato do brasileiro o quiabo e a abóbora costumam caminhar juntos. Quase sempre refogados, ou, como dizem pelas bandas de Minas Gerais, “afogadinhos”, uma expressão que sempre me tocou de uma maneira contraditória. Se por um lado exerce sobre mim o poder de emergir memórias gustativas primordiais, por outro, me causa uma espécie de arrepio. Isso porque, diante da curiosidade de conhecer outras narrativas e modos de preparo, ao perguntar a uma cozinheira tradicional como ela usa determinado ingrediente, ela irá te responder: “afogadinho”. Ou seja, se você quer aprender mais sobre essa cozinha, vai precisar morar um tempo na beira do fogão delas ou compartilhar alguns litros de café antes de acessar o universo diversificado dos refogados. No mais, no raso, refogar/ afogar, em bom português brasileiro, significa, a grosso modo, levar a cebola e o alho à panela com alguma gordura e, normalmente depois, agregar os outros elementos, seja lá quais forem eles.
Given the restlessness that is natural to me, I opted for another path here. On the ceramics, you will see a pumpkin purée with palm oil and traces of coconut yogurt, along with a fermented cashew nut cream, echoing memories from the union of these two ingredients, partners in dishes such as the bobó de camarão na moranga¹ (a type of pumpkin) or pumpkin jam with coconut flakes. And on this delicious bed to put your mouth in there are the okra, grilled with spices such as coriander seed and flamed with cachaça² and the spicy, fragrant and native spiked pepper. Also lime drops to finish and bring acidity to the okra, which soothes with them.
The invitation is to dip the okra in the purée and, bringing them together to the mouth, chew them slowly, enjoying the dismantling of the borders.
Por aqui, diante da inquietude que me é natural, optei por outro percurso. Sobre a cerâmica verão um purê de abóbora com dendê e rastros de iogurte de coco, junto a um creme de castanha de caju, fermentado, ressoando memórias de encontro entre esses dois ingredientes, parceiros em pratos como o bobó de camarão na moranga (tipo de abóbora) ou doce de abóbora com lascas de coco. E sobre essa cama gostosa de deitar a boca estão os quiabos, grelhados com especiarias como a semente de coentro e flambados com cachaça e a pimenta de macaco, picante, perfumada e nativa. E gotas de limão para finalizar e trazer acidez ao quiabo, que se acalma com elas.
O convite é mergulhar o quiabo no purê e, trazendo-os juntos à boca, mastigá-los lentamente, apreciando o desmanche das fronteiras.
RECIPE
OKRA FLAMBÉ
Okras
Coriander seed
Spiked pepper
Salt to taste
1 Spoon of cachaça
Cane molasses
Lime
RECEITA
QUIABO FLAMBADO
Quiabos
Semente de coentro
Pimenta de macaco
Sal a gosto
1 colher de cachaça
Melado de cana
Limão
Method:
In a heated frying pan, arrange the okra cut lengthwise and drizzle some olive oil. Add salt and seasonings and, when it is already soft, incorporate the cachaça. At this moment, pull the fire into the pan, thus flambéing the okras. Finish with cane molasses and a touch of lime.
Preparo:
Em uma frigideira aquecida dispor os quiabos cortados em forma longitudinal e regar com um fio de azeite. Acrescentar sal e os temperos e, quando já estiver macio, incorporar a cachaça. Neste momento, puxar o fogo para dentro da panela, flambando assim os quiabos. Finalizar com melado de cana e um toque de limão.
MASHED POTATO
½ Small pumpkin
1 Spoon of palm oil
Salt to taste
Coriander seeds
Lanterna chinesa³ dried flowers
PURÊ
1/2 abóbora pequena
1 colher de azeite de dendê
Sal
Semente de coentro
Flor lanterna chinesa seca
Method:
Cook the pumpkin and mash it with a fork until smooth, incorporating palm oil and salt. The rest of the seasoning is on the yogurt in the following recipe.
Preparo:
Cozinhar a abóbora e amassar com um garfo até ficar homogênea, incorporando azeite de dendê e sal. O restante do tempero ficará por conta do iogurte a seguir.
CHESTNUT YOGURT WITH FRESH COCONUT
200g Cashew nuts
1 Fresh coconut pulp
Brown rice rejuvelac
IOGURTE DE CASTANHA COM COCO FRESCO
200 gramas de castanha de caju
Polpa de 1 coco fresco
Rejuvelac de arroz integral
Method:
After soaking the cashew nuts for at least 4 hours, discard the water. Put the nuts with the fresh coconut pulp in a blender and add the minimum amount of water necessary. Once the cream is made, include the rejuvelac (or other fermentation element) and wait for time to take action. Once fermented, add salt. The purée was topped by the yogurt, so that they mix gradually. Splash lanterna chinesa dried flowers and crushed coriander seeds to finish the layers.
Preparo:
Depois de demolhar as castanhas por 4 horas no mínimo, descartar a água. Bater a castanha junto a polpa de coco fresco no liquidificador e o mínimo de água necessário. Feito o creme, incorporar o rejuvelac (ou outra isca para fermentação) e aguardar a ação do tempo. Depois de fermentado, colocar sal. O iogurte foi sobreposto ao purê, para que se misturem aos poucos. Salpicar sobre eles. Agregadas na forragem flores secas de lanterna-chinesa e sementes de coentro trituradas.
¹ Bobó de camarão, sometimes referred to as shrimp bobó in English, is a chowder-like Brazilian dish of shrimp in a purée of manioc (or cassava) meal with coconut milk, herbs, ginger, and other ingredients. In Hamilton, Cherie. Brazil: A Culinary Journey. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2005, pp. 66–67. [T.N.]
² Cachaça is the most traditional Brazilian distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. In Cavalcante, Messias Soares. Todos os nomes da cachaça. São Paulo: Sá Editora, 2011, p. 392. [T.N.]
³ Abutilon striatum is a shrub in the Malvaceae family, also known in Brazil as lanterna japonesa, sininho and campainha. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf. In Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF). Available at <https://www.gbif.org/species/3152599>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
PANGEA
Millions of years ago, heading east by land in Brazil, it was possible to reach Africa. As this narrative dates to times that go back to the Paleozoic Era, we were not here, naturally, to enjoy this closeness. But, as a poetic and political tool, we can dream of this Pangea, imagining in a plate, or a collection of words, a strengthening of ties between the native Brazilian and African peoples through a non-violent and decolonized narrative.
Okra, like many of the ingredients that occupy a central place in our culture, came from Africa, possibly Ethiopia, along with enslaved peoples, in the 17th century. And what we call pumpkin, in turn, consists of a wide variety that form the Cucurbitaceae family. What matters to us here, however, is the fact that, before Brazil was invaded by Portuguese settlers, the indigenous people already had it as one of their most important crops and ingredients, second only to cassava and corn.
PANGEIA (original text in Portuguese)
Há milhões de anos, rumando à leste por terra no Brasil era possível chegar à África. Sendo essa narrativa de tempos que remontam à Era Paleozoica, não estávamos aqui, naturalmente, para desfrutar dessa proximidade. Mas, enquanto ferramenta poética e política, podemos sonhar com essa Pangeia, imaginando num prato ou apanhado de palavras um estreitamento de laços entre os povos originários brasileiros e os africanos por meio de uma narrativa não violenta e descolonizada.
O quiabo, como muitos dos ingredientes que ocupam um lugar central em nossa cultura, veio da África, possivelmente da Etiópia, junto aos povos escravizados, no século XVII. E o que chamamos de abóbora, por sua vez, consiste de uma ampla variedade que compõe a família das Cucurbitáceas. O que nos importa aqui, no entanto, é o fato de que, antes de o Brasil ser invadido por colonos portugueses, os indígenas já a tinham como um dos seus cultivos e ingredientes mais importantes, perdendo apenas para a mandioca e o milho.
In the imaginary Pangea proposed here, they were united on a ceramic, which carries in the clay baked at high temperature, we can think, the memory of the hot earth, heated by the magma. A dish that invites geological time to cope with the narratives that cross, sometimes violently, the human time.
Nonetheless, okra and pumpkin forge specificities that they do not bear, since behind the shell that covers them with a name there is a turmoil of varieties sometimes programmatically forgotten. In this dish, however, variants are brought often out of commercial scope.
Nessa pangeia imaginária aqui proposta, uniram-se eles sobre uma cerâmica, que carrega, podemos pensar, no barro assado em alta temperatura, a memória da terra quente, aquecida pelo magma. Um prato que convida o tempo geológico para dar conta das narrativas que atravessam, por vezes com violência, o tempo humano.
Quiabo e abóbora aqui forjam, no entanto, especificidades que não comportam, visto que por traz da casca que os reveste de um nome há um alvoroço de variedades por vezes programaticamente esquecidas. Aqui neste prato são, no entanto, trazidas variantes escoadas muitas vezes para fora do escopo comercial.
Okra is known by the farmer Lúcia as 7 Galho and came to her through her mother’s hands, a woman with extensive knowledge of her kitchen and garden. The fruit has well-defined angulations – a star shape, when chopped –, it grows like a tree, unlike others of smaller size, and has large seeds. The abóbora pescoço [long pumpkin], as farmer Vera calls it, comes from creole seeds, a resistance perpetuated by family generations and also shared in the agroecological struggles in which she actively participates. It has a gourd-like shape, a striped skin, a fibrous and moist pulp (it releases a lot of water during cooking). Together, the flavor of knowledge is added as a seasoning to this dish when it reaches the maximum degree of potency: sharing.
O quiabo é conhecido pela agricultora Lúcia como 7 Galho e chegou a ela pelas mãos de sua mãe, mulher de largos conhecimentos em torno da horta e cozinha. Tem o fruto angulações bem definidas – formato estelar, quando laminado –, cresce como árvore, diferente de outros de porte menor, e possui sementes graúdas. Já a abóbora pescoço, como a chama a agricultura Vera, vem de semente crioula, uma resistência perpetuada por gerações de sua família e também partilhada nos meios de luta agroecológica dos quais ela participa ativamente. Tem um formato de cabaça, casca rajada, polpa fibrosa e úmida (libera bastante água durante o cozimento). Juntos, acrescem como tempero deste prato o sabor do conhecimento quando atinge o grau máximo de potência: a partilha.
The fruit has well
–defined angulations
– a star shape, when chopped
–, it grows like a tree, unlike others of smaller size, and has large seeds.
–defined angulations
– a star shape, when chopped
–, it grows like a tree, unlike others of smaller size, and has large seeds.
As speaking about sharing, in the Brazilian dish, okra and pumpkin usually go together. Almost always stewed, or, as they say around Minas Gerais, “afogadinhos” [“muffled”], an expression that has always touched me in a contradictory way. If, on the one hand, it exerts over me the power to bring out primordial gustatory memories, on the other hand, it causes me a kind of shiver. This is because, in the face of curiosity to know other narratives and ways of preparation, when you ask a traditional cook how she uses a given ingredient, she will answer you: “afogadinho”. That is, if you really want to learn more about this cuisine, you will need to dwell by their stove for a while or share a few liters of coffee before accessing the diverse universe of stew cooking. Moreover, generally speaking, to stew or to “muffle” [refogar ou afogar], in good Brazilian Portuguese, means to take onion and garlic to a pan with some fat and, normally afterwards, adding other elements, whatever they may be.
E, por falar em parcerias, no prato do brasileiro o quiabo e a abóbora costumam caminhar juntos. Quase sempre refogados, ou, como dizem pelas bandas de Minas Gerais, “afogadinhos”, uma expressão que sempre me tocou de uma maneira contraditória. Se por um lado exerce sobre mim o poder de emergir memórias gustativas primordiais, por outro, me causa uma espécie de arrepio. Isso porque, diante da curiosidade de conhecer outras narrativas e modos de preparo, ao perguntar a uma cozinheira tradicional como ela usa determinado ingrediente, ela irá te responder: “afogadinho”. Ou seja, se você quer aprender mais sobre essa cozinha, vai precisar morar um tempo na beira do fogão delas ou compartilhar alguns litros de café antes de acessar o universo diversificado dos refogados. No mais, no raso, refogar/ afogar, em bom português brasileiro, significa, a grosso modo, levar a cebola e o alho à panela com alguma gordura e, normalmente depois, agregar os outros elementos, seja lá quais forem eles.
Given the restlessness that is natural to me, I opted for another path here. On the ceramics, you will see a pumpkin purée with palm oil and traces of coconut yogurt, along with a fermented cashew nut cream, echoing memories from the union of these two ingredients, partners in dishes such as the bobó de camarão na moranga¹ (a type of pumpkin) or pumpkin jam with coconut flakes. And on this delicious bed to put your mouth in there are the okra, grilled with spices such as coriander seed and flamed with cachaça² and the spicy, fragrant and native spiked pepper. Also lime drops to finish and bring acidity to the okra, which soothes with them.
The invitation is to dip the okra in the purée and, bringing them together to the mouth, chew them slowly, enjoying the dismantling of the borders.
Por aqui, diante da inquietude que me é natural, optei por outro percurso. Sobre a cerâmica verão um purê de abóbora com dendê e rastros de iogurte de coco, junto a um creme de castanha de caju, fermentado, ressoando memórias de encontro entre esses dois ingredientes, parceiros em pratos como o bobó de camarão na moranga (tipo de abóbora) ou doce de abóbora com lascas de coco. E sobre essa cama gostosa de deitar a boca estão os quiabos, grelhados com especiarias como a semente de coentro e flambados com cachaça e a pimenta de macaco, picante, perfumada e nativa. E gotas de limão para finalizar e trazer acidez ao quiabo, que se acalma com elas.
O convite é mergulhar o quiabo no purê e, trazendo-os juntos à boca, mastigá-los lentamente, apreciando o desmanche das fronteiras.
RECIPE
OKRA FLAMBÉ
Okras
Coriander seed
Spiked pepper
Salt to taste
1 Spoon of cachaça
Cane molasses
Lime
RECEITA
QUIABO FLAMBADO
Quiabos
Semente de coentro
Pimenta de macaco
Sal a gosto
1 colher de cachaça
Melado de cana
Limão
Method:
In a heated frying pan, arrange the okra cut lengthwise and drizzle some olive oil. Add salt and seasonings and, when it is already soft, incorporate the cachaça. At this moment, pull the fire into the pan, thus flambéing the okras. Finish with cane molasses and a touch of lime.
Preparo:
Em uma frigideira aquecida dispor os quiabos cortados em forma longitudinal e regar com um fio de azeite. Acrescentar sal e os temperos e, quando já estiver macio, incorporar a cachaça. Neste momento, puxar o fogo para dentro da panela, flambando assim os quiabos. Finalizar com melado de cana e um toque de limão.
MASHED POTATO
½ Small pumpkin
1 Spoon of palm oil
Salt to taste
Coriander seeds
Lanterna chinesa³ dried flowers
PURÊ
1/2 abóbora pequena
1 colher de azeite de dendê
Sal
Semente de coentro
Flor lanterna chinesa seca
Method:
Cook the pumpkin and mash it with a fork until smooth, incorporating palm oil and salt. The rest of the seasoning is on the yogurt in the following recipe.
Preparo:
Cozinhar a abóbora e amassar com um garfo até ficar homogênea, incorporando azeite de dendê e sal. O restante do tempero ficará por conta do iogurte a seguir.
CHESTNUT YOGURT WITH FRESH COCONUT
200g Cashew nuts
1 Fresh coconut pulp
Brown rice rejuvelac
IOGURTE DE CASTANHA COM COCO FRESCO
200 gramas de castanha de caju
Polpa de 1 coco fresco
Rejuvelac de arroz integral
Method:
After soaking the cashew nuts for at least 4 hours, discard the water. Put the nuts with the fresh coconut pulp in a blender and add the minimum amount of water necessary. Once the cream is made, include the rejuvelac (or other fermentation element) and wait for time to take action. Once fermented, add salt. The purée was topped by the yogurt, so that they mix gradually. Splash lanterna chinesa dried flowers and crushed coriander seeds to finish the layers.
Preparo:
Depois de demolhar as castanhas por 4 horas no mínimo, descartar a água. Bater a castanha junto a polpa de coco fresco no liquidificador e o mínimo de água necessário. Feito o creme, incorporar o rejuvelac (ou outra isca para fermentação) e aguardar a ação do tempo. Depois de fermentado, colocar sal. O iogurte foi sobreposto ao purê, para que se misturem aos poucos. Salpicar sobre eles. Agregadas na forragem flores secas de lanterna-chinesa e sementes de coentro trituradas.
¹ Bobó de camarão, sometimes referred to as shrimp bobó in English, is a chowder-like Brazilian dish of shrimp in a purée of manioc (or cassava) meal with coconut milk, herbs, ginger, and other ingredients. In Hamilton, Cherie. Brazil: A Culinary Journey. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2005, pp. 66–67. [T.N.]
² Cachaça is the most traditional Brazilian distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. In Cavalcante, Messias Soares. Todos os nomes da cachaça. São Paulo: Sá Editora, 2011, p. 392. [T.N.]
³ Abutilon striatum is a shrub in the Malvaceae family, also known in Brazil as lanterna japonesa, sininho and campainha. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf. In Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF). Available at <https://www.gbif.org/species/3152599>, access on Sep. 1st 2022. [T.N.]
KAKATOMA
The indigenous people of Jamamadi, who live between Amazônia and Acre states, uphold the habit in their daily lives of walking in order to kakatoma, “to look at the plants”. They walk observing the surroundings, the time for different harvests, for consumption, construction, production of medicines, but not with a purely utilitarian approach. In their route, they cherish the vegetation company and the beauty of their development, as well as provide access to the different narratives constituted by generations, ancestors of all kinds that vividly compose the landscape, which do not represent an other (the object of the gaze). The same references applied to humans are used to name the cycle of plant development, which do not consist of a simple metaphor between “anthropomorphizing plants and vegetal metaphorizing the human”, so that “where everything is human, the human is all one thing”¹.
KAKATOMA (original text in Portuguese)
Os indígenas Jamamadi, que vivem entre o Amazonas e Acre, têm em seu cotidiano o costume de caminhar para kakatoma, “olhar as plantas”. Caminham na observação do entorno, do tempo de colheitas diversas, para consumo, construção, produção de medicamentos, mas não com um cunho puramente utilitário. Aprecia-se nesse percurso as companhias vegetais e a beleza de seu desenvolvimento, bem como servem de acesso às narrativas diversas constituídas por gerações, antepassados de toda espécie que compõem vivamente a paisagem, que aqui não constitui um outro (objeto do olhar). Para nomear o ciclo de desenvolvimento vegetal são usados os mesmos referenciais aplicados aos humanos, o que não consiste de uma simples metáfora, estando entre a “antropomorfização das plantas e a metaforização vegetal do humano”, de modo que “ali onde toda coisa é humana, o humano é toda uma coisa só”¹.
Without limiting the much more complex Jamamadi’s life perspective, I borrow the kakatoma as an invitation, a lens that opens up a perspective of interspecific relationships that is very different from the one that we – metropolis inhabitants humans – possess, starting out from the common belief that nature is a place we can visit, a landscape, something other than ourselves.
In a hurry, we are usually distracted through the streets, dealing with them as passing areas that will take us somewhere, and this, the destination, is taken as the journey’s focus. As a person interested in biodiversity, while walking around the city, I’ve acquired the habit of magnifying my gaze towards up and down, concentrating at cracks in sidewalks, flowerbeds and treetops. Amidst the concrete, that characterizes the urban space, I’ve learnt to regain [matar a saudade] the green landscape, seeking to recognize myself as part of this biome. It is possible to find in it historical and architectural narratives that promoted the configuration of flowerbeds and squares; but also other narratives less noisy for inattentive ears, about residents who sowed their favorite vegetables or fruits near their homes, as well as vegetable and animal narratives, which tell about plants that, native or not, have enormous power of territory resistance and adaptability, and discovered means of spreading in space by birds and insects equally resistant: “A flower has sprouted in the street!/ Buses, streetcars, steel stream of traffic: steer clear! […] It's ugly. But it's a flower. It broke the asphalt, tedium, disgust, and hatred.” As poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade puts better than me in A rosa do povo².
Sem dar por esgotada a perspectiva de vida muito mais complexa dos Jamamadi, tomo aqui emprestada a kakatoma como convite, lente que abre uma perspectiva de relação interespecífica muito diversa da que nós, humanos habitantes da metrópole, possuímos, a começar pela crença de que a natureza é um lugar que podemos visitar, uma paisagem, um outro que não nós mesmos.
Apressados, andamos geralmente distraídos pelas ruas, encarando-as como áreas de passagem que nos levarão a algum lugar, este sim o destino, tomado como foco do percurso. Caminhando pela cidade adquiri como pessoa interessada pela biodiversidade alimentar o hábito de caminhar com o olhar ampliado para cima e para baixo, dirigido às rachaduras das calçadas, aos canteiros e às copas das árvores. Em meio ao concreto que caracteriza o espaço urbano, aprendi a matar a saudade da paisagem verdejante buscando me reconhecer como parte desse bioma. Nele, é possível encontrar narrativas históricas e arquitetônicas que promoveram a composição dos canteiros e praças, mas também outras menos barulhentas, para ouvidos desatentos, de moradores que semearam suas verduras ou frutas favoritas perto de suas casas, bem como as narrativas vegetais e animais, que dizem de plantas que, nativas ou não, possuem enorme poder de resistência e adaptabilidade a este território e encontram nos pássaros e insetos igualmente resistentes meios de se difundirem no espaço: “ Uma flor nasceu na rua!/ Passem de longe, bondes, ônibus, rio de aço do tráfego. [...] É feia. Mas é uma flor. Furou o asfalto, o tédio, o nojo e o ódio”, disse melhor que eu o poeta Carlos Drummond de Andrade em A rosa do povo.
Walking through productive suburban gardens and kitchen backyards, we find a series of correspondences between this dispersed urban arsenal and what was sown or sprouts despite any invitation. And in this diversified salad, you can find many of these species, such as maria-gorda³, beldroega⁴, sowthistle, red chicory, roselle⁵, buva⁶, tanchagem⁷, among others. Besides them, the bertalha’s⁸ aerial root, which has a similar flavor to cará, but with a rustic shape that we can call tuberous colony, a fermented sweet cucumber pickle, usually found in fairs and markets resistant to latifundium, seeds of aroeira-verde⁹, also fermented and endowed with impressive freshness, and flowers from Bougainville¹⁰, which, despite its name, is native to Brazil. These last two, however, were the only ones actually collected, while the others, vine-like and damaged by insalubrious conditions, serve only to the gaze at or as seedlings, so they were harvested in the gardens of biodiversity guardians Lúcia and Vera.
Caminhando pelos quintais produtivos e hortas, encontramos uma série de correspondências entre esse arsenal disperso urbano e aquilo que se semeia ou brota à despeito de qualquer convite. E aqui, nesta salada diversificada, encontram-se muitas dessas espécies, como maria-gorda, beldroega, serralha, almeirão roxo, vinagreira, buva, tanchagem, entre outras. Além delas, a raiz aérea da bertalha, que possui um sabor similar ao do cará, mas com uma forma rústica que podemos chamar de colônia tuberosa, uma conserva fermentada de pepino doce, encontrado geralmente em feiras e mercados de resistência ao latifúndio, sementes de aroeira verdes, também fermentadas e dotadas de frescor impressionante, e flores de Bougainville, que, apesar do nome, é nativa brasileira. Estas duas últimas, no entanto, foram as únicas de fato coletadas, enquanto as outras, rasteiras e mais vitimadas pela insalubridade, servem apenas ao olhar ou como mudas, de modo que foram colhidas nas hortas das guardiãs da biodiversidade Lúcia e Vera.
The salad is also drizzled with a cajá-manga¹¹ sauce, a fruit that, although it comes from Polynesia, has a successful adaptation in Brazilian territory, especially in the Northeast, and is one of the thousands Brazilian fruits that have minor presence in large commercial centers, easier to find at street fairs. As I have unprecedentedly found it in a market close to home, I brought it as a memory of the vast fruit diversity we possess, for we are increasingly entangled by a small group of species selected by global exchange. Fruits to eat in the backyard or, who knows, under the very tree, to refresh and feast at the street on a hot day. A possible narrative.
A human being, clothed animal, walks through the city. It sees a tree with a ripe fruit. It reaches out, peels, bites, allowing the slivers between its teeth and the juice running down its chin, dripping onto its shirt. When the pulp is finished, the human being thanks this encounter, spits out the seed, remembers the sower.
Sobre a salada é regado ainda um molho de cajá-manga, uma fruta que, embora venha da Polinésia, tem enorme adaptação no território brasileiro, sobretudo no Nordeste, sendo uma entre as milhares de frutas do brasil que têm pouca presença em grandes centros comerciais, mais fáceis de se achar em feiras de produtores. Tendo a encontrado de modo inédito em um mercado próximo de casa, a trouxe como memória da vasta diversidade de frutas que possuímos, ao passo que estamos cada vez mais enredados por um pequeno grupo de espécies selecionadas pela seleção global. Fruta de comer no quintal ou, quem sabe, debaixo da árvore, se refrescando e lambuzando na rua num dia quente. Narrativa possível.
Um humano, bicho de roupa, caminha pela cidade. Avista uma árvore e, nela, uma fruta madura. Estica a mão, descasca, morde permitindo os fiamos entre os dentes e o sumo escorrido no queixo, gotejando a camisa. Terminada a polpa, agradece o encontro, cospe-lhe a semente, relembra-se semeador.
RECIPE
SALAD
Maria-gorda, beldroega, sowthistle, red chicory, roselle and buva leaves
Bertalha roots
Aroeira-verde pickle
Sweet cucumber pickle
RECEITA
SALADA
Folhas de maria-gorda, beldroega, serralha, almeirão roxo, vinagreira e buva
Raiz de bertalha
Conserva de aroeira verde
Conserva de pepino doce
Method:
Cook the bertalha root with salt, put it in a frying pan and set aside. Tear off larger leaves and preserve the shape of the smaller ones. Add the sweet cucumber and aroeira-verde pickles to the preparation (after spending 3 days immersed in a brine solution, in the proportion of a spoon of salt with ½ liter of water). Add the bertalha root.
Preparo:
Cozinhar a raiz de bertalha com sal, levar à frigideira e reservar. Rasgar as folhas maiores e preservar o formato das menores. Somar ao preparo as conservas de pepino doce e aroeira verde, fermentadas (depois de passarem 3 dias imersas dentro e um vidro em uma salmoura, na proporção de uma colher de sal com ½ litro de água). Agregar a raiz.
SAUCE
3 Cajá-manga
1 Spoon of cane molasses
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
½ Lime
MOLHO
3 Cajá-manga
1 coler de melado de cana
2 colheres de azeite
½ limão
Method:
After peeling off the fruits, rub them over a sieve to release the juice. Add the other ingredients using a fork or egg whisk. Pour over the entire salad.
Preparo:
Depois de retirar a casca dos frutos, esfregá-los sobre uma peneira para desprender o suco. Agregar os outros ingredientes usando um garfo ou fouet. Derramar sobre toda a salada.
¹ Shiratori, Karen, “Vegetalidade humana e o medo do olhar feminino”, in Vozes Vegetais. São Paulo, Ubu Editora, 2020.
² “Uma flor nasceu na rua! Passem de longe, bondes, ônibus, rio de aço do tráfego. […] É feia. Mas é uma flor. Furou o asfalto, o tédio, o nojo e o ódio.” In Drummond de Andrade, Carlos. A rosa do povo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2012, p. 14.
Find the translation presented in “Nausea and the Flower” in Drummond de Andrade, Carlos. Multitudinous Heart – Selected Poems. Translated by Richard Zenith. New York: Penguin Classics, 2015, p. 44. [T.N.]
³ Talinum paniculatum is native to much of North and South America, and the Caribbean countries. It is commonly known as fameflower, Jewels-of-Opar or pink baby’s-breath. In Sajeva, Maurizio; Mariangela Costanzo. Succulents: the Illustrated Dictionary. Portland: Timber Press, 1997, p. 219. [T.N.]
⁴ Portulaca oleracea, commonly known as purslane and also as little hogweed or pursley. In Kilpatrick, Judy. "Germinating Portulaca Seeds." Available at <http://homeguides.sfgate.com/germinating-portulaca-seeds-39371.html>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁵ Hibiscus sabdariffa is a species of flowering plant in the genus Hibiscus that is native to Africa. In Britannica. Available at <https://www.britannica.com/plant/roselle-plant>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁶ Erigeron bonariensis is commonly known as flax-leaf fleabane, wavy-leaf fleabane, Argentine fleabane, hairy horseweed, asthma weed and hairy fleabane. In Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Available at <https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=104170>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁷ Plantago major is native to Eurasia and known as broadleaf plantain, white man's footprint, waybread, or greater plantain. In Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Available at <https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=28788>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁸ Basella alba is known by names including Malabar spinach, vine spinach, Ceylon spinach and Indian spinach. In Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Available at <https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=6531>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁹ Schinus terebinthifolia is native to subtropical and tropical South America. Common names include Brazilian peppertree, aroeira, rose pepper, broadleaved pepper tree, wilelaiki, Christmasberry tree and Florida holly. In National Invasive Species Information Center. United States National Agricultural Library. Available at <https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/brazilian-peppertree>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
¹⁰. Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees native to eastern South America, found in Brazil, Peru and Argentina. In Britannica. Available at <https://www.britannica.com/plant/bougainvillea>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
¹¹ Spondias dulcis is known commonly as ambarella, June plum, golden apple, pommecythere and cythere. In Morton, Julia. Fruits of warm climates. Miami: Echo Point Books, 2013, p. 240–242.
KAKATOMA
The indigenous people of Jamamadi, who live between Amazônia and Acre states, uphold the habit in their daily lives of walking in order to kakatoma, “to look at the plants”. They walk observing the surroundings, the time for different harvests, for consumption, construction, production of medicines, but not with a purely utilitarian approach. In their route, they cherish the vegetation company and the beauty of their development, as well as provide access to the different narratives constituted by generations, ancestors of all kinds that vividly compose the landscape, which do not represent an other (the object of the gaze). The same references applied to humans are used to name the cycle of plant development, which do not consist of a simple metaphor between “anthropomorphizing plants and vegetal metaphorizing the human”, so that “where everything is human, the human is all one thing”¹.
KAKATOMA (original text in Portuguese)
Os indígenas Jamamadi, que vivem entre o Amazonas e Acre, têm em seu cotidiano o costume de caminhar para kakatoma, “olhar as plantas”. Caminham na observação do entorno, do tempo de colheitas diversas, para consumo, construção, produção de medicamentos, mas não com um cunho puramente utilitário. Aprecia-se nesse percurso as companhias vegetais e a beleza de seu desenvolvimento, bem como servem de acesso às narrativas diversas constituídas por gerações, antepassados de toda espécie que compõem vivamente a paisagem, que aqui não constitui um outro (objeto do olhar). Para nomear o ciclo de desenvolvimento vegetal são usados os mesmos referenciais aplicados aos humanos, o que não consiste de uma simples metáfora, estando entre a “antropomorfização das plantas e a metaforização vegetal do humano”, de modo que “ali onde toda coisa é humana, o humano é toda uma coisa só”¹.
Without limiting the much more complex Jamamadi’s life perspective, I borrow the kakatoma as an invitation, a lens that opens up a perspective of interspecific relationships that is very different from the one that we – metropolis inhabitants humans – possess, starting out from the common belief that nature is a place we can visit, a landscape, something other than ourselves.
In a hurry, we are usually distracted through the streets, dealing with them as passing areas that will take us somewhere, and this, the destination, is taken as the journey’s focus. As a person interested in biodiversity, while walking around the city, I’ve acquired the habit of magnifying my gaze towards up and down, concentrating at cracks in sidewalks, flowerbeds and treetops. Amidst the concrete, that characterizes the urban space, I’ve learnt to regain [matar a saudade] the green landscape, seeking to recognize myself as part of this biome. It is possible to find in it historical and architectural narratives that promoted the configuration of flowerbeds and squares; but also other narratives less noisy for inattentive ears, about residents who sowed their favorite vegetables or fruits near their homes, as well as vegetable and animal narratives, which tell about plants that, native or not, have enormous power of territory resistance and adaptability, and discovered means of spreading in space by birds and insects equally resistant: “A flower has sprouted in the street!/ Buses, streetcars, steel stream of traffic: steer clear! […] It's ugly. But it's a flower. It broke the asphalt, tedium, disgust, and hatred.” As poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade puts better than me in A rosa do povo².
Sem dar por esgotada a perspectiva de vida muito mais complexa dos Jamamadi, tomo aqui emprestada a kakatoma como convite, lente que abre uma perspectiva de relação interespecífica muito diversa da que nós, humanos habitantes da metrópole, possuímos, a começar pela crença de que a natureza é um lugar que podemos visitar, uma paisagem, um outro que não nós mesmos.
Apressados, andamos geralmente distraídos pelas ruas, encarando-as como áreas de passagem que nos levarão a algum lugar, este sim o destino, tomado como foco do percurso. Caminhando pela cidade adquiri como pessoa interessada pela biodiversidade alimentar o hábito de caminhar com o olhar ampliado para cima e para baixo, dirigido às rachaduras das calçadas, aos canteiros e às copas das árvores. Em meio ao concreto que caracteriza o espaço urbano, aprendi a matar a saudade da paisagem verdejante buscando me reconhecer como parte desse bioma. Nele, é possível encontrar narrativas históricas e arquitetônicas que promoveram a composição dos canteiros e praças, mas também outras menos barulhentas, para ouvidos desatentos, de moradores que semearam suas verduras ou frutas favoritas perto de suas casas, bem como as narrativas vegetais e animais, que dizem de plantas que, nativas ou não, possuem enorme poder de resistência e adaptabilidade a este território e encontram nos pássaros e insetos igualmente resistentes meios de se difundirem no espaço: “ Uma flor nasceu na rua!/ Passem de longe, bondes, ônibus, rio de aço do tráfego. [...] É feia. Mas é uma flor. Furou o asfalto, o tédio, o nojo e o ódio”, disse melhor que eu o poeta Carlos Drummond de Andrade em A rosa do povo.
Walking through productive suburban gardens and kitchen backyards, we find a series of correspondences between this dispersed urban arsenal and what was sown or sprouts despite any invitation. And in this diversified salad, you can find many of these species, such as maria-gorda³, beldroega⁴, sowthistle, red chicory, roselle⁵, buva⁶, tanchagem⁷, among others. Besides them, the bertalha’s⁸ aerial root, which has a similar flavor to cará, but with a rustic shape that we can call tuberous colony, a fermented sweet cucumber pickle, usually found in fairs and markets resistant to latifundium, seeds of aroeira-verde⁹, also fermented and endowed with impressive freshness, and flowers from Bougainville¹⁰, which, despite its name, is native to Brazil. These last two, however, were the only ones actually collected, while the others, vine-like and damaged by insalubrious conditions, serve only to the gaze at or as seedlings, so they were harvested in the gardens of biodiversity guardians Lúcia and Vera.
Caminhando pelos quintais produtivos e hortas, encontramos uma série de correspondências entre esse arsenal disperso urbano e aquilo que se semeia ou brota à despeito de qualquer convite. E aqui, nesta salada diversificada, encontram-se muitas dessas espécies, como maria-gorda, beldroega, serralha, almeirão roxo, vinagreira, buva, tanchagem, entre outras. Além delas, a raiz aérea da bertalha, que possui um sabor similar ao do cará, mas com uma forma rústica que podemos chamar de colônia tuberosa, uma conserva fermentada de pepino doce, encontrado geralmente em feiras e mercados de resistência ao latifúndio, sementes de aroeira verdes, também fermentadas e dotadas de frescor impressionante, e flores de Bougainville, que, apesar do nome, é nativa brasileira. Estas duas últimas, no entanto, foram as únicas de fato coletadas, enquanto as outras, rasteiras e mais vitimadas pela insalubridade, servem apenas ao olhar ou como mudas, de modo que foram colhidas nas hortas das guardiãs da biodiversidade Lúcia e Vera.
The salad is also drizzled with a cajá-manga¹¹ sauce, a fruit that, although it comes from Polynesia, has a successful adaptation in Brazilian territory, especially in the Northeast, and is one of the thousands Brazilian fruits that have minor presence in large commercial centers, easier to find at street fairs. As I have unprecedentedly found it in a market close to home, I brought it as a memory of the vast fruit diversity we possess, for we are increasingly entangled by a small group of species selected by global exchange. Fruits to eat in the backyard or, who knows, under the very tree, to refresh and feast at the street on a hot day. A possible narrative.
A human being, clothed animal, walks through the city. It sees a tree with a ripe fruit. It reaches out, peels, bites, allowing the slivers between its teeth and the juice running down its chin, dripping onto its shirt. When the pulp is finished, the human being thanks this encounter, spits out the seed, remembers the sower.
Sobre a salada é regado ainda um molho de cajá-manga, uma fruta que, embora venha da Polinésia, tem enorme adaptação no território brasileiro, sobretudo no Nordeste, sendo uma entre as milhares de frutas do brasil que têm pouca presença em grandes centros comerciais, mais fáceis de se achar em feiras de produtores. Tendo a encontrado de modo inédito em um mercado próximo de casa, a trouxe como memória da vasta diversidade de frutas que possuímos, ao passo que estamos cada vez mais enredados por um pequeno grupo de espécies selecionadas pela seleção global. Fruta de comer no quintal ou, quem sabe, debaixo da árvore, se refrescando e lambuzando na rua num dia quente. Narrativa possível.
Um humano, bicho de roupa, caminha pela cidade. Avista uma árvore e, nela, uma fruta madura. Estica a mão, descasca, morde permitindo os fiamos entre os dentes e o sumo escorrido no queixo, gotejando a camisa. Terminada a polpa, agradece o encontro, cospe-lhe a semente, relembra-se semeador.
RECIPE
SALAD
Maria-gorda, beldroega, sowthistle, red chicory, roselle and buva leaves
Bertalha roots
Aroeira-verde pickle
Sweet cucumber pickle
RECEITA
SALADA
Folhas de maria-gorda, beldroega, serralha, almeirão roxo, vinagreira e buva
Raiz de bertalha
Conserva de aroeira verde
Conserva de pepino doce
Method:
Cook the bertalha root with salt, put it in a frying pan and set aside. Tear off larger leaves and preserve the shape of the smaller ones. Add the sweet cucumber and aroeira-verde pickles to the preparation (after spending 3 days immersed in a brine solution, in the proportion of a spoon of salt with ½ liter of water). Add the bertalha root.
Preparo:
Cozinhar a raiz de bertalha com sal, levar à frigideira e reservar. Rasgar as folhas maiores e preservar o formato das menores. Somar ao preparo as conservas de pepino doce e aroeira verde, fermentadas (depois de passarem 3 dias imersas dentro e um vidro em uma salmoura, na proporção de uma colher de sal com ½ litro de água). Agregar a raiz.
SAUCE
3 Cajá-manga
1 Spoon of cane molasses
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
½ Lime
MOLHO
3 Cajá-manga
1 coler de melado de cana
2 colheres de azeite
½ limão
Method:
After peeling off the fruits, rub them over a sieve to release the juice. Add the other ingredients using a fork or egg whisk. Pour over the entire salad.
Preparo:
Depois de retirar a casca dos frutos, esfregá-los sobre uma peneira para desprender o suco. Agregar os outros ingredientes usando um garfo ou fouet. Derramar sobre toda a salada.
¹ Shiratori, Karen, “Vegetalidade humana e o medo do olhar feminino”, in Vozes Vegetais. São Paulo, Ubu Editora, 2020.
² “Uma flor nasceu na rua! Passem de longe, bondes, ônibus, rio de aço do tráfego. […] É feia. Mas é uma flor. Furou o asfalto, o tédio, o nojo e o ódio.” In Drummond de Andrade, Carlos. A rosa do povo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2012, p. 14.
Find the translation presented in “Nausea and the Flower” in Drummond de Andrade, Carlos. Multitudinous Heart – Selected Poems. Translated by Richard Zenith. New York: Penguin Classics, 2015, p. 44. [T.N.]
³ Talinum paniculatum is native to much of North and South America, and the Caribbean countries. It is commonly known as fameflower, Jewels-of-Opar or pink baby’s-breath. In Sajeva, Maurizio; Mariangela Costanzo. Succulents: the Illustrated Dictionary. Portland: Timber Press, 1997, p. 219. [T.N.]
⁴ Portulaca oleracea, commonly known as purslane and also as little hogweed or pursley. In Kilpatrick, Judy. "Germinating Portulaca Seeds." Available at <http://homeguides.sfgate.com/germinating-portulaca-seeds-39371.html>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁵ Hibiscus sabdariffa is a species of flowering plant in the genus Hibiscus that is native to Africa. In Britannica. Available at <https://www.britannica.com/plant/roselle-plant>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁶ Erigeron bonariensis is commonly known as flax-leaf fleabane, wavy-leaf fleabane, Argentine fleabane, hairy horseweed, asthma weed and hairy fleabane. In Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Available at <https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=104170>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁷ Plantago major is native to Eurasia and known as broadleaf plantain, white man's footprint, waybread, or greater plantain. In Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Available at <https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=28788>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁸ Basella alba is known by names including Malabar spinach, vine spinach, Ceylon spinach and Indian spinach. In Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Available at <https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=6531>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
⁹ Schinus terebinthifolia is native to subtropical and tropical South America. Common names include Brazilian peppertree, aroeira, rose pepper, broadleaved pepper tree, wilelaiki, Christmasberry tree and Florida holly. In National Invasive Species Information Center. United States National Agricultural Library. Available at <https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/brazilian-peppertree>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
¹⁰. Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees native to eastern South America, found in Brazil, Peru and Argentina. In Britannica. Available at <https://www.britannica.com/plant/bougainvillea>, access on Sep.1st 2022. [T.N.]
¹¹ Spondias dulcis is known commonly as ambarella, June plum, golden apple, pommecythere and cythere. In Morton, Julia. Fruits of warm climates. Miami: Echo Point Books, 2013, p. 240–242.
ART AS LIFELONG (UN)LEARNING
Sometimes knowledge is hidden or forgotten like old stuff in a dusty attic. Art often helps to reveal it, inviting viewers to reflect again on something that was consigned to oblivion. This article describes an artistic approach to (re)activating forgotten knowledge and skills, with practical and theoretical suggestions for knowledge reproduction.
It's an abandoned farm that got everything started. Two friends, both artists living in the largest suburb of the Netherlands, have become fascinated by the building. What is an old farm doing right next to the shopping center of Leidsche Rijn? They decided to investigate and eventually started a conversation with the owner. “Who are you?” and the answer reassured him. Artists are okay. Yes, he is the owner. And yes, he is a farmer, but no longer farms there.
An exchange starts, raising further questions. The artists decide to turn it into a project. One is an architect and the other a food artist. Both women are fascinated by the history of the farm and the stories of the farmer. They decide to ask the farmer if they can use the farm for their artistic project. Finally, he agrees, and the artists started using the building that turned out to have a history that goes back deep into the Middle Ages.
After moving to the farm, the artists start their exploration and open the doors to the public. Shoppers are invited to come in, to have coffee or tea together, to talk about this quirky place in their residential area and how they may or may not be connected to it. Within a few months there will be workshops and excursions for children and adults, debates, and beer brewing. Residents are busy growing hops and vegetables in the yard, whilst also building playground equipment and a chicken coop. At the same time, there is room for creating and exhibiting art installations.
Commons are cultural and natural resources that are accessible to all members of a community. Think of forests, water, pastureland, but also books and even knowledge itself. These resources are jointly managed in the commons, where there is no private property. The commons had already been described in the Middle Ages but are in fact the “normal” way of living together. Over the centuries, commonality has largely disappeared, usually corrupted by appropriation.
Life in the abandoned farm at the Leidsche Rijn was blossoming until an unexpected twist. The farmer sold the farm. But what seemed like a setback turned out to be a major boost. In the absence of a real farm as a permanent location, the artists put wheels under their project and the Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills is born. A replica of the farm was built with an old cargo bike, acting as a new base, and all kinds of nomadic workshops and excursions are now organized using this mobile farm-museum.
Concerning farming, the activities of the traveling museum are tied to the clock of the seasons. In winter previous projects are reflected upon and new plans are made. In spring new activities are set up and shared with potential audiences to gradually work with participants until the end of summer, when the harvest is celebrated together.
The artists cycle across the neighborhood with their mobile installation and regularly stop to talk with curious residents. “What are you eating tonight?”, “Do you know what it used to look like here?” Simple questions to open a conversation in which listening and learning from each other are central. The proceeds of these encounters form the museum's collection. Recipes, knowledge about seeds and fruits, growing vegetables, caring for animals, books, magazines, and old photos showing the history of the area. Everything is collected in the cargo bike, so it can be shared again during new encounters.
The guiding thread of the Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills are the themes of ecology and heritage, but something else precedes this: the realization that deepening a conversation is only possible if you can interact with the public in the first place. It is only when we meet each other physically that real interest, questions, and stories appear.
Finding rather than seeking. Search involves a strong focus – a goal that must be achieved. Finding, on the other hand, is a state of alertness to things that accidentally cross your path. The artistic ambition of the artists lies in (un)learning together the things you encounter. They create circumstances in which the public is stimulated to stop, ask questions, tell stories, and experience that their input is valued.
As soon as you notice that there is equality in the dynamic, another important principle becomes visible – with finding comes sharing. There is no privilege, just mutual recognition, and commitment. On this foundation of finding and sharing, a structure of fruitful knowledge exchange and transfer can be built. It is a brittle process. After all, we are all trained in a system where certainty is valued above doubt. We have not yet learned how to find instead of seeking.
The artists of the Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills have made this premise their work. By suspending the search for certainty, by giving space to doubt and chance, the spontaneous arises. Through a mix of language, expression, and an open attitude, they find answers and new questions together with their audience. It is an artistic process of learning and unlearning together.
*This article was partially previously published (in Dutch) in the magazine nY #47 – 2022.
Erik Uitenbogaard
The Travelling Farm Musuem of Forgotten Skills is a collaboration between the Outsiders and Casco Art Institute working for the Commons. Members of the Outsiders are: Leonardo de Siqueira, Merel Zwarts, Txell Blanco and Asia Komarova; members of Casco are Marianna Takou, Erik Uitenbogaard, Binna Choi, Luke Cohlen, Kim van der Zijde en Leana Boven. Including many collaborations with farmers, artists and members of the community.
ART AS LIFELONG (UN)LEARNING
Sometimes knowledge is hidden or forgotten like old stuff in a dusty attic. Art often helps to reveal it, inviting viewers to reflect again on something that was consigned to oblivion. This article describes an artistic approach to (re)activating forgotten knowledge and skills, with practical and theoretical suggestions for knowledge reproduction.
It's an abandoned farm that got everything started. Two friends, both artists living in the largest suburb of the Netherlands, have become fascinated by the building. What is an old farm doing right next to the shopping center of Leidsche Rijn? They decided to investigate and eventually started a conversation with the owner. “Who are you?” and the answer reassured him. Artists are okay. Yes, he is the owner. And yes, he is a farmer, but no longer farms there.
An exchange starts, raising further questions. The artists decide to turn it into a project. One is an architect and the other a food artist. Both women are fascinated by the history of the farm and the stories of the farmer. They decide to ask the farmer if they can use the farm for their artistic project. Finally, he agrees, and the artists started using the building that turned out to have a history that goes back deep into the Middle Ages.
After moving to the farm, the artists start their exploration and open the doors to the public. Shoppers are invited to come in, to have coffee or tea together, to talk about this quirky place in their residential area and how they may or may not be connected to it. Within a few months there will be workshops and excursions for children and adults, debates, and beer brewing. Residents are busy growing hops and vegetables in the yard, whilst also building playground equipment and a chicken coop. At the same time, there is room for creating and exhibiting art installations.
Commons are cultural and natural resources that are accessible to all members of a community. Think of forests, water, pastureland, but also books and even knowledge itself. These resources are jointly managed in the commons, where there is no private property. The commons had already been described in the Middle Ages but are in fact the “normal” way of living together. Over the centuries, commonality has largely disappeared, usually corrupted by appropriation.
Life in the abandoned farm at the Leidsche Rijn was blossoming until an unexpected twist. The farmer sold the farm. But what seemed like a setback turned out to be a major boost. In the absence of a real farm as a permanent location, the artists put wheels under their project and the Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills is born. A replica of the farm was built with an old cargo bike, acting as a new base, and all kinds of nomadic workshops and excursions are now organized using this mobile farm-museum.
Concerning farming, the activities of the traveling museum are tied to the clock of the seasons. In winter previous projects are reflected upon and new plans are made. In spring new activities are set up and shared with potential audiences to gradually work with participants until the end of summer, when the harvest is celebrated together.
The artists cycle across the neighborhood with their mobile installation and regularly stop to talk with curious residents. “What are you eating tonight?”, “Do you know what it used to look like here?” Simple questions to open a conversation in which listening and learning from each other are central. The proceeds of these encounters form the museum's collection. Recipes, knowledge about seeds and fruits, growing vegetables, caring for animals, books, magazines, and old photos showing the history of the area. Everything is collected in the cargo bike, so it can be shared again during new encounters.
The guiding thread of the Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills are the themes of ecology and heritage, but something else precedes this: the realization that deepening a conversation is only possible if you can interact with the public in the first place. It is only when we meet each other physically that real interest, questions, and stories appear.
Finding rather than seeking. Search involves a strong focus – a goal that must be achieved. Finding, on the other hand, is a state of alertness to things that accidentally cross your path. The artistic ambition of the artists lies in (un)learning together the things you encounter. They create circumstances in which the public is stimulated to stop, ask questions, tell stories, and experience that their input is valued.
As soon as you notice that there is equality in the dynamic, another important principle becomes visible – with finding comes sharing. There is no privilege, just mutual recognition, and commitment. On this foundation of finding and sharing, a structure of fruitful knowledge exchange and transfer can be built. It is a brittle process. After all, we are all trained in a system where certainty is valued above doubt. We have not yet learned how to find instead of seeking.
The artists of the Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills have made this premise their work. By suspending the search for certainty, by giving space to doubt and chance, the spontaneous arises. Through a mix of language, expression, and an open attitude, they find answers and new questions together with their audience. It is an artistic process of learning and unlearning together.
*This article was partially previously published (in Dutch) in the magazine nY #47 – 2022.
Erik Uitenbogaard
The Travelling Farm Musuem of Forgotten Skills is a collaboration between the Outsiders and Casco Art Institute working for the Commons. Members of the Outsiders are: Leonardo de Siqueira, Merel Zwarts, Txell Blanco and Asia Komarova; members of Casco are Marianna Takou, Erik Uitenbogaard, Binna Choi, Luke Cohlen, Kim van der Zijde en Leana Boven. Including many collaborations with farmers, artists and members of the community.
CONTRIBUTORS
This is a collaborative project. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who participated in this journey with us, directly or indirectly.
CREDITS
Guest Editors
Thamyres Matarozzi
Alejandra Monteverde
Illustrations
Pierina Másquez
Menu and Food Stories
Concept, elaboration, and text:
Cozinha Ambuá
Photos and videos
Luísa Macedo
Lucí Sallum
French translation
Bárbara Bragato
Lazare Jefroykin
English translation
Leonardo Nones
The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills
Text: Erik Uitenbogaard
The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills is a collaboration between the Outsiders and Casco Art Institute working for the Commons. Members of the Outsiders are: Leonardo de Siqueira, Merel Zwarts, Txell Blanco and Asia Komarova; members of Casco are Marianna Takou, Erik Uitenbogaard, Binna Choi, Luke Cohlen, Kim van der Zijde en Leana Boven. Near to the many collaborations with farmers, artists and members of the community.
Dialogues
What is the importance of the commons when prototyping alternative futures and ways of living? (Binna Choi)
How can the commons as practice provide tools for rethinking modes of coexistence? (Coopia)
How can food shape our way of being in time? (Margaretha Jüngling)
How could we approach cycles in our daily lives? (Cascoland)
BIOS
Thamyres Matarozzi @thamyres_vm
Thamy Matarozzi is an independent curator and cultural practitioner with background in art, cinema, and cultural studies. Based in Amsterdam, she’s currently part of the Dutch Art Institute (2022-2024).
Thamy cofounded Valongo Festival and has been the director of the project for its 5 editions. Valongo investigated and showcased the different narratives that constitute visual culture, consolidating its role as a prominent experimental platform within the Brazilian contemporary art scene.
Alejandra Monteverde @algo___especial
Alejandra Monteverde (Lima, 1988) is a gallerist and curator working between Lima and Zurich. Graduating from the Universidad del Pacífico with a Bachelor's degree in Management, she has taken specialized courses in the art market at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, IESA Arts & Culture in Paris, and in the program from Christie’s Education Online. She is currently studying a Master in Curating at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste.
She has held the position of Assistant Director at the MALI (Museum of Art of Lima) and worked in other art institutions in Lima. In 2017 she founded Crisis, a contemporary art gallery representing a selection of Peruvian and Latin American artists. The gallery has taken part in different art fairs in Latin America and Europe such as LISTE Art Fair Basel, Material, CDMX, ArteBa, Buenos Aires, Paris Internationale, ARCO Madrid, Art Düsseldorf, Artissima, and Turin.
Cozinha Ambuá @cozinha.ambua
Maria Ambuá (Cozinha Ambuá) has been on a path that crossed the kitchen, performative intervention, literature, poetry, and literature, poetry, and politics. The strength of her work is in the recreation of the affections through experimentation of perception dynamics reception and sharing.
The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills @travellingfarmmuseum
In 2018, Utrecht-based artist collective The Outsiders and Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons joined forces with neighbors, artists, and communities to inhabit and animate one of the few remnants: the Terwijde Farmhouse. From seeding to harvest time, several activities unfolded (encouraging a reflection on) the agrarian past and future of Utrecht, all through the lenses of food, ecology and heritage. Through collaborating on the project Erfgoed (Agricultural Heritage and Land Use) by occupying the farm we manifest our first intentions to open artistic practices to the rural but also to a different decentralized type of public.
Since 2019, when the farmhouse was sold, The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills has taken the form of the occupied farm and became a mobile character. The farm travels throughout the neighborhood and listens to the stories of farmers – stories of eviction, survival, and resilience. We are a group of professionals composed by the Outsiders: Asia Komarova, Txell Blanco, Leonardo Siqueira and Merel Zwarts and Casco Art Institute, working for the commons with Binna Choi, Marianna Takou and Eric Uitenbogaard; together we formed the Traveling Farm Museum with Forgotten Skills.
Pierina Másquez @pierinamasquez
Pierina Másquez is a visual artist, who graduated in the specialty of Painting from the Art Faculty of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She is interested in contemporary artistic research and in the development of collective curatorial projects.
There are infinite possibilities to approach a space, an object, and time. In her work, these possibilities are manifested through her interest in the affective and spatial memory generated by a series of personal belongings, materialities, and local events. Our origins, journeys, female ancestors, and paths we have travelled are the basis for understanding where we sit to dream and allow us to wonder what colors those dreams have, who speaks, who is silent, and who laughs or cries in them.
Cascoland @cascoland_
Cascoland is an international network of designers, visual artists, performers, and academics based in Amsterdam. Cascoland projects are initiated by Fiona de Bell and Roel Schoenmakers and executed with multi-disciplinary teams of creatives. They are aimed at the development of an ecological and socially sustainable society, locally and globally. Since 2004 Cascoland has worked on projects in The Netherlands, South Africa, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Egypt, Japan, and in several countries in Europe
Binna Choi @whereiscasco
Binna Choi is director of Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons (from 2018 onwards), formerly Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory in Utrecht, the Netherlands aka Casco, and co-artistic director of Singapore Biennale 2022 named Natasha. She conceived and co-developed with the Casco team and numerous others a long-term artistic research project like Grand Domestic Revolution (2009/2010-2013) and Composing the Commons a three-year interdisciplinary and artistic research program (2013-2015/16); she has been part of the faculty of the Dutch Art Institute /Masters of Fine Arts Programme in Arnhem, and is working for and with a trans-local network Arts Collaboratory since 2013 and the co-founding members of European networks of art organizations Cluster. Her other curatorial projects include three-day seminar program Cultivate or Revolutionize: Life Between Apartment and Farmland at Times Museum, Guangzhou (2014, with Nikita Choi) and summer school and exhibition Group Affinity at Kunstverein Munich (2011, with Bart van der Heide). She was a curator for the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016) which led her to curate Gwangju Lessons (2020) at Asia Culture Center and Akademie der Kunst der Welt in close collaboration with Christian Nyampeta.
Margaretha Jüngling @mar_________jue__
Margaretha Jüngling (*1988, Thusis) currently breathes, thinks, cooks, writes, walks, studies, sleeps, eats (and so on) in Zurich. She is completing a master’s in Transdisciplinarity at the ZHdK, in which she tries to reinterrogate and explore her accumulated experiences as a cook from a variety of perspectives. In doing so, she follows the ingredients in their chemical compositions, traces their biological data, questions their symbolisms, follows their cultural histories. The process of cooking forms the site in which she can create with what is found in other stories by combining, cooking and consuming ingredients in different ways. These can be found as speculative dinners, collective eating experiences, edible fantasies and many (giveaway) bags of knowledge.
So far she had found success in various PopUp's in and around Zurich. Together with Luc Häfliger, she opened the Bistro in the Muzeum Susch. In the collective UNI as well as in the collective Vazem she participates in the club culture seeing it as a broad field.
CONTRIBUTORS
This is a collaborative project. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who participated in this journey with us, directly or indirectly.
CREDITS
Guest Editors
Thamyres Matarozzi
Alejandra Monteverde
Illustrations
Pierina Másquez
Menu and Food Stories
Concept, elaboration, and text:
Cozinha Ambuá
Photos and videos
Luísa Macedo
Lucí Sallum
French translation
Bárbara Bragato
Lazare Jefroykin
English translation
Leonardo Nones
The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills
Text: Erik Uitenbogaard
The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills is a collaboration between the Outsiders and Casco Art Institute working for the Commons. Members of the Outsiders are: Leonardo de Siqueira, Merel Zwarts, Txell Blanco and Asia Komarova; members of Casco are Marianna Takou, Erik Uitenbogaard, Binna Choi, Luke Cohlen, Kim van der Zijde en Leana Boven. Near to the many collaborations with farmers, artists and members of the community.
Dialogues
What is the importance of the commons when prototyping alternative futures and ways of living? (Binna Choi)
How can the commons as practice provide tools for rethinking modes of coexistence? (Coopia)
How can food shape our way of being in time? (Margaretha Jüngling)
How could we approach cycles in our daily lives? (Cascoland)
BIOS
Thamyres Matarozzi @thamyres_vm
Thamy Matarozzi is an independent curator and cultural practitioner with background in art, cinema, and cultural studies. Based in Amsterdam, she’s currently part of the Dutch Art Institute (2022-2024).
Thamy cofounded Valongo Festival and has been the director of the project for its 5 editions. Valongo investigated and showcased the different narratives that constitute visual culture, consolidating its role as a prominent experimental platform within the Brazilian contemporary art scene.
Alejandra Monteverde @algo___especial
Alejandra Monteverde (Lima, 1988) is a gallerist and curator working between Lima and Zurich. Graduating from the Universidad del Pacífico with a Bachelor's degree in Management, she has taken specialized courses in the art market at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, IESA Arts & Culture in Paris, and in the program from Christie’s Education Online. She is currently studying a Master in Curating at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste.
She has held the position of Assistant Director at the MALI (Museum of Art of Lima) and worked in other art institutions in Lima. In 2017 she founded Crisis, a contemporary art gallery representing a selection of Peruvian and Latin American artists. The gallery has taken part in different art fairs in Latin America and Europe such as LISTE Art Fair Basel, Material, CDMX, ArteBa, Buenos Aires, Paris Internationale, ARCO Madrid, Art Düsseldorf, Artissima, and Turin.
Cozinha Ambuá @cozinha.ambua
Maria Ambuá (Cozinha Ambuá) has been on a path that crossed the kitchen, performative intervention, literature, poetry, and literature, poetry, and politics. The strength of her work is in the recreation of the affections through experimentation of perception dynamics reception and sharing.
The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills @travellingfarmmuseum
In 2018, Utrecht-based artist collective The Outsiders and Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons joined forces with neighbors, artists, and communities to inhabit and animate one of the few remnants: the Terwijde Farmhouse. From seeding to harvest time, several activities unfolded (encouraging a reflection on) the agrarian past and future of Utrecht, all through the lenses of food, ecology and heritage. Through collaborating on the project Erfgoed (Agricultural Heritage and Land Use) by occupying the farm we manifest our first intentions to open artistic practices to the rural but also to a different decentralized type of public.
Since 2019, when the farmhouse was sold, The Travelling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills has taken the form of the occupied farm and became a mobile character. The farm travels throughout the neighborhood and listens to the stories of farmers – stories of eviction, survival, and resilience. We are a group of professionals composed by the Outsiders: Asia Komarova, Txell Blanco, Leonardo Siqueira and Merel Zwarts and Casco Art Institute, working for the commons with Binna Choi, Marianna Takou and Eric Uitenbogaard; together we formed the Traveling Farm Museum with Forgotten Skills.
Pierina Másquez @pierinamasquez
Pierina Másquez is a visual artist, who graduated in the specialty of Painting from the Art Faculty of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She is interested in contemporary artistic research and in the development of collective curatorial projects.
There are infinite possibilities to approach a space, an object, and time. In her work, these possibilities are manifested through her interest in the affective and spatial memory generated by a series of personal belongings, materialities, and local events. Our origins, journeys, female ancestors, and paths we have travelled are the basis for understanding where we sit to dream and allow us to wonder what colors those dreams have, who speaks, who is silent, and who laughs or cries in them.
Cascoland @cascoland_
Cascoland is an international network of designers, visual artists, performers, and academics based in Amsterdam. Cascoland projects are initiated by Fiona de Bell and Roel Schoenmakers and executed with multi-disciplinary teams of creatives. They are aimed at the development of an ecological and socially sustainable society, locally and globally. Since 2004 Cascoland has worked on projects in The Netherlands, South Africa, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Egypt, Japan, and in several countries in Europe
Binna Choi @whereiscasco
Binna Choi is director of Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons (from 2018 onwards), formerly Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory in Utrecht, the Netherlands aka Casco, and co-artistic director of Singapore Biennale 2022 named Natasha. She conceived and co-developed with the Casco team and numerous others a long-term artistic research project like Grand Domestic Revolution (2009/2010-2013) and Composing the Commons a three-year interdisciplinary and artistic research program (2013-2015/16); she has been part of the faculty of the Dutch Art Institute /Masters of Fine Arts Programme in Arnhem, and is working for and with a trans-local network Arts Collaboratory since 2013 and the co-founding members of European networks of art organizations Cluster. Her other curatorial projects include three-day seminar program Cultivate or Revolutionize: Life Between Apartment and Farmland at Times Museum, Guangzhou (2014, with Nikita Choi) and summer school and exhibition Group Affinity at Kunstverein Munich (2011, with Bart van der Heide). She was a curator for the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016) which led her to curate Gwangju Lessons (2020) at Asia Culture Center and Akademie der Kunst der Welt in close collaboration with Christian Nyampeta.
Margaretha Jüngling @mar_________jue__
Margaretha Jüngling (*1988, Thusis) currently breathes, thinks, cooks, writes, walks, studies, sleeps, eats (and so on) in Zurich. She is completing a master’s in Transdisciplinarity at the ZHdK, in which she tries to reinterrogate and explore her accumulated experiences as a cook from a variety of perspectives. In doing so, she follows the ingredients in their chemical compositions, traces their biological data, questions their symbolisms, follows their cultural histories. The process of cooking forms the site in which she can create with what is found in other stories by combining, cooking and consuming ingredients in different ways. These can be found as speculative dinners, collective eating experiences, edible fantasies and many (giveaway) bags of knowledge.
So far she had found success in various PopUp's in and around Zurich. Together with Luc Häfliger, she opened the Bistro in the Muzeum Susch. In the collective UNI as well as in the collective Vazem she participates in the club culture seeing it as a broad field.