Series 1 - Food and Memory

 

This blog is more like a photo essay. It examines the topic of food and memory through the images presented in the poster. This is also an exploration into the areas of Food Studies and Memory Studies. The food items in the poster represent the embodiment of culture and identity. Most of the images are from my personal Instagram account which was taken while working abroad. The images have strong ethnographic moorings and they are all cultural constructs. This is the morning cup of tea, I used to drink every day at 7:30 am in my workplace in Shinas, Oman. This is green tea mixed with mint leaves. This is a typical morning drink in the Middle East. The culture would have spread from Morocco which is famous for its Maghrebi mint tea which is served in silver goblets or glass goblets. The Maghreb means the setting of the sun and the evening Islamic prayer is known as Maghrebi. The tea contains spearmint and sugar. This piece of cake is known as the Tiramisu. An Italian dessert. The word tiramisu means ' cheer me up ' or ' pull me up '. It contains two layers — one layer of sponge cake soaked in coffee and a layer of mascarpone cream. There is a dedicated website for promoting ‘the culture of tiramisu’. www.accademiadeltiramisu.com.

The origins of Tiramisu can be traced to the border in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a mountainous region that borders Austria and Slovenia. They discovered a handwritten recipe for Tiramisu from 1959. The craving for South Indian food was satisfied by swallowing these capsules. They are the mini version of the breakfast delicacy known as idli. This food is part of the cultural identity of every South Indian. These steamed rice cakes dipped in chutney is the embodiment of South India.