Food and the way we eat has always been closely related to our cultural identity. Our roots and
families define how we cook, shop and eat. In this day and age when migration is a common phenomenon, more
and more people make their homes in new countries. For some it is an escape from economical hardship, for
others- from uninspiring surroundings, and some come to taste a new culture for a few years. Newcomers might
learn the language, adapt to a new culture, but certain aspects of identity remain the same. One of them is
our relationship with food.
I am interested in the relationships in between food and
homesickness, particular dishes and nostalgia, taste and memories. Cooking is a particular ritual performed
not only to produce dinner or supper, but also to feed the emotional hunger, that could be created by being
far from one's own culture.
The people I have interviewed for my project have all shared more
than just lists of dishes, they all seemed to be transported to their childhood, sharing their most personal
memories. The visual story I am telling is a story of escaping from one's usual and comfortable
surroundings, making new home and life, and then escaping back through a plateful of nostalgia.