A Recipe of Memory by Salma Serry

Oct 2021 and Mar 2023

A Recipe of Memory conducted by foodways researcher Salma Serry explored how memory can be activated as source material in creating recipes. It aimed to deepen our understanding of how food is shaped by/shapes our own past and identity as individuals, regardless of the larger collective’s imposed notions of "heritage.” The outcome was a collaborative body of recipes that weaves in storytelling, context and history related to each participant's personal narrative. The outcome was a collection of recipes that were site-specific and very human. 

Some of the outcomes;

Middle Eastern Rassam

French Toast

Fried Fish Caught in a Bucket

A Pine and Citrus Field in Cyprus

A Grieving Chicken Machboos

The Smell of Burnt Karak

Afghani Koshari

Eggy Manaeesh in a Brown Bag

Here is an exercise that will start with a question that activates the memory, and ends with a recipe.  It might take longer than 30 minutes so take it back home and take your time with it. It’s a playful  take on how memories are employed as a source material in food studies research. This is a guide  for a creative exercise and not a scientific formula, so feel free to add in your own steps and  improvise along the way. The outcome of this is to recreate/create a recipe using elements and data  gathered from your research/reflection/meditation into memory. You can chose to create the recipe  in any format you wish: writing, listing, photography, video, audio, song, etc, as long people can  understand it and replicate it after you.  

The Steps: 

1. Form a question, eg.: 

       An ingredient: How do I remember fish? 

       An incident: A memorable event/day from school? 

       A dish: How did I encounter sushi? 

       A space: What were grocery stores/restaurants like to me as a child? 

       A place: What was the food like when visiting a certain country?  

       A person: How did my father engage/interact with food? 

       A habit: From the cartoon you watched as a kid, how was food featured?  

2. Reflect on these questions and in answering them, identify sources of memory: cookbook, photograph,  video, personal reflection, media, etc 

3. Note down any particular elements that stand out: eg: cheap cost, fasting, working father, smelly fish  market, slimy texture, emotions, textbook/cookbook = knowledge 

4. Find larger meanings/context in these elements Eg: hospitality= culture, fasting= ritual, birthday= social  interaction, eating with hands= way of eating, soaking= experience of time, migration= experience of  movement, social class, race, war= historical event, the way a dish looked: aesthetic taste, etc.. 

5. Think of ingredients/instructions that are inspired by or suggested by these larger meanings/context  from step 4. Sort them out into a table to make it easy to see all the ingredients separately