Connecting with food, land and beyond
It is essential to know how we access, consume, share and build relationships over food.
In June of 2023, during the Land Body Ecologies festival, we hosted food experiences for audiences to come and learn together, and even eat some of the native foods of Ban Nong Tao, in the Northern part of Thailand and Bannerghatta, in the Southern part of India. We had collaborators from these communities who shared stories and led the food experiences. Personally, this was an interesting format to explore and learn how people can interact and share stories in such settings.
With our embedded research over the last two years, it became evident that access to traditional plants and trees for food and medicine has become increasingly challenging for land-dependent communities. Some of the reasons being: climate change, changes in conservation policies and changing patterns of land use. Hence through the food experience workshops, we wanted to create a space to share these stories and how over time they have adapted to cater to new audiences.
Here are a few reflections from the workshops:
Being slow is the way to connect with land and the environment
Swae, who travelled from the Karen community in the northern part of Thailand shared his work with Lazy Man Coffee, traditional recipes and stories of how we need to slow down and connect with Earth. This opened a unique perspective in how one needs to slow down and build a connection with the land (something we miss doing living in fast-moving cities!).
“When we drink water, we must take care of the water. We use the soil, we take care of the land. We use the air, we take care of the earth.”
- P’ Swae
“Making food together and sharing stories re-orients our relationship to time. It reminds us to slow down enough to observe from a calm, attentive perspective.”
- Jennifer
This thought particularly inspired me as, through the festival I observed, learnt and have been practising to pause, to build a connection with the land and environment. Through the experiences, I could see the care and value audiences brought to the table and eventually reflect on how we have been so disconnected from the land amongst the hustle of living in the city!
Connecting urban audiences to traditional food recipes
Vishalakshi, from Buffalo Back Collective, Bannerghatta, in the Southern part of India shared the deep knowledge and intimate connection built with the land by the communities living in Bannerghatta. Through her collective with other organic farmers, she is trying to challenge how we as urban consumers relate to our food.
‘One of the women in the community can identify up to 21 native herbs and leaves in the forest. She also knows how to cook them.’
- Vishalakshi
It was fascinating to bring these stories from the Bannerghatta field station, particularly highlighting the deep connection that communities share with the land and food.
Experiencing these food cultures from so far away made me re-examine my own relationship with the food I eat, where it comes from and the stories that it holds.
- A participant during the workshop
Personally, I was nervous about how these experiences would pan out, but when it started to unfold, many stories were shared — it created a space for inspiration and learning. The preparation for the food experiences required continuous trial and error, knowledge sharing, attempts at perfection and finally, a space to not hesitate and be open to learning on the go.
Looking back, I knew I wanted to write about this incredible pedagogy that exists in the communities and the land. There is no limitation in these experiences, only stories and messy hands to guide your way.
While writing this piece, I came across this wonderful podcast by Emergence Magazine –THE BUTCHERING, by Jake Skeets; something struck me while listening:
Each memory folding into a story. And each ingredient of the food we enjoyed folding into even more stories, each food carrying a story of its own. Food sovereignty.
The Land Body Ecologies Festival explored a deep connection between mental health and ecosystem health in a four-day festival, through performances, food, workshops, discussions, music, films and more.
About the collaborators:
Siwakorn Odochao (P’ Swae) grew up in Karen village with nine brothers and sisters learning local wisdom and traditional knowledge. On the other hand, he finished a master’s degree from Open University, learning about global change with local roots is also part of what he learnt from ARI (Asean Rural Institute) in 2009. He believes that small-scale farming can lead to sustainable development and beautiful living. In 2011, he started Lazy Man Coffee to fight mono-cropping corn and introduce alternative farming to the people in Karen village. He hopes to direct the coffee market to Thailand and share the “slow down for the Earth’’ philosophy. The most delicious is rice, the most beautiful is human, the best smelling is a baby, and the coolest water. Pgak’yaw words that fell into his heart since he first heard them.
Jennifer Katanyoutanant works with interactive mediums like VR, installation, and food to facilitate communication and co-create systems of sharing and exchange. Recent fascinations include food systems research through sensory interactions, playable critical thought and virtual spaces for shifting power imbalance. Past projects explored ecological manifestations of the YouTube recommendation algorithm, diverse creative communities in emerging technology, and cultivating remote intimacy through food and web performance.
Vishalakshi Padmanabhan is the founder of Buffalo Back Collective, a network of small-holding organic farmers around Bangalore. Buffalo Back is seeking to change the relationship between urban consumers and their food, striving constantly to evolve a better and healthier food system. Their work also centres on building awareness and knowledge to strengthen our ability to exercise sustainable choices. Buffalo Back Collective also hosts the Secretariat for the Participatory Guarantee Systems Organic India (PGS OC), which is a cause-driven social organisation of 17 farming collectives across India, dedicated to bringing about an inclusive platform for small and marginal organic producers, to collaborate and flourish in the domestic market through a process based on verifiable trust.
