ABOUT PROTEST FOOD

Food plays a crucial role in self-governing one’s life with others. We see food in everything- from the everyday where friends and family gather around a kitchen, to neighborhood gatherings, to festivals and rituals, to mutual-aid community fridges around the city, to grassroots political organizing, to hunger strikes, to protests, uprisings, and revolutions.

At the same time, food has also historically been a subtle vehicle for political expression, often carrying messages of dissent when direct action is risky or repressed.

Food is also a topic of contention because it is necessary for survival. Food is often used as a weapon or control over a population. Centuries of battles over land and sustenance have led to food becoming homogenized into a global commodity and a means of wealth accumulation for an insatiable few.

Moreover, in the capitalist economy that we currently live in, access to food, healthy options, and food education are highly monetized and intersectional with race, gender, and class.

Yet, in response, we have seen many communities reclaiming food traditions and using them to heal, connect, and resist cultural erasures.

PROTEST FOOD aims to brings together these powerful narratives, demonstrating food’s role in collective movements and care throughout history, around the world.

CREDITS

Brainstorming, ideating and helping me along the way: Julia Daser;

Recommendations and resources: Professor Alexandra Délano Alonso, Zachary Leamy and Tench Cholnoky;

Guidance and mentorship: Professors Kellee Massey, Ayo Okunseinde, Jesse Harding, Kia Gregory, Richard The, Zachary Leamy, Jack Jin Gary Lee;

Everyone who contributed to my archive;

User testing: Parsons Design and Technology Class of 2025 classmates;

Printing: Design Lab at The New School, Emily Li for printing points;

Grant/ funding: New School Student Research Award (University Student Senate and the Office of the President)