Darmstadt Epilogue: Foodways & Migration

Developed in collaboration with Jazmin Badong Llana and curator Ute Ritschel

During KunstTREFFpunkt in Darmstadt, Germany, Spatula&Barcode occupied a storefront at the Marktplatz in Darmstadt for two days to engage passersby about their experiences with foodways and migration.  We collected their stories with the following prompts: What foods do you miss when you are away from home? What foods might you bring if you migrate? What foods have you learned to eat while away from home? What challenges have you found when trying to eat familiar foods while away from home? What foods did you learn to prepare or enjoy from an immigrant friend? How have immigrant foodways influenced your home country? Can learning to eat unfamiliar foods make us more welcoming to immigrants? Do you know any stories about xenophobic responses to immigrant foods?

All respondents were invited to join us for dinner at Internationales Waldkunst Zentrum. Sparked by participant interest, the meal evolved into a massive international potluck with foods from Algeria, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Morocco, Philippines, Poland, Senegal, Syria, Turkiye, Ukraine, United States and more.