An art installation in Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin

Description One of the most common things in all our lives, food is an ideal indicator of systems of colonialism, racism, inequality, and gender oppression. High-brow cuisine and “sophisticated taste” are associated with male chefs’ “European” food. However, on a larger scale food is often prepared by women, often Indigenous and with migration experience. The foods of Asia, Africa, and South America, despite increasing accessibility in restaurants around the world, continue to be fetishized and exoticized. In their project, artists and activists from the Never Odd or Even collective manifest the value of food for the communities as a medium for communication. For many immigrants, food connects them with their families and traditions through countries and generations. For natives, food keeps them attached to their culture.

Sculptures made of mochi, a traditional Southeast and East Asian rice dough, are flexible and soft with enough care but hard and fragile without. Mochi symbolizes the trauma of migration and separated families that can be left unspoken for years. The zine includes traditional Indigenous recipes — Chukchi (or Ḷygʺoravètḷʹèt, Indigenous people of Siberia) bone marrow, Buryad salamat, Korean kimbap, etc. This is white-colored food from non-white people, traditionally eaten with family. In many Asian cultures, white food is believed to have a healing capacity. By sharing these recipes artists hope to heal themselves and everybody who joins and to return uniting power to food.