Breaking The Bubble Of Food Writing: Cultivating Diverse Stories
My assessment was a week ago. I have taken this week to reflect on what I have achieved so far and where I would like my project to go from here. What is evident is that there is a huge body of research. The research itself is also quite broad. I think this is due to not having a clear aim and direction and so I threw myself into the journey and went with the flow of where it took me. I guess, in the hope that it would yield a lightbulb moment and I would suddenly know the purpose for my inquiry. This did not happen. I found myself this week anxious that I had no idea where I was going with my work but, in a contradiction that I had a never ending list of things that I did want to do with it.
During the week I realised that I was alert to the social media posts that I saw in passing. I noticed that people I knew had set up really professional looking sites about food and recipes and were posting regularly (daily even) with interesting content. It made me question myself and why I was not doing that. Here I am making a lot of noise about my research on Food, Culture and Storytelling - But what do I ACTUALLY have to show for it?
I have become interested in food writing. But, I am not a journalist or writer. I know that I am able to write and can do it. Looking deeper the blogs I read are not by professional writers. So why don’t I give it a go?
I know that I need content in order to create anything be it a design, writing, artefact.
I signed off my unit 2 assessment saying that my next plan is to approach people from different countries and get their stories then use this to create stories through different mediums that lend themselves uniquely. So it could be a graphic editorial piece or a video etc.
After looking at some food blogs (see links) and a brain storm I went back to some work I did last summer, early on in my food, culture and storytelling exploration. I was really interested in the cultures in London and their food. I was advised to take a small section of London and use that as my research (This could be scaled up later if needed). Going back my findings in this research and the learnings that I have had since then I am revisiting this route.
I plan to focus on my local area and select some food outlets that have been set up by people from around the globe. I would like to get their stories and create an editorial piece in the form of a website and blog. It will contain their stories through interviews, photos and videos. I can then include recipes and teachings about each one’s specific cuisine ingredients and histories.
I would like to liaise with the council to put on global food fairs. I would like to create a roadshow that I take to schools to teach children my findings and promote healthy food knowledge and teach simple cooking skills.
As a creative, I feel I need to explore the design elements. So I would like to collaborate with designers at USl to create a brand, styling and look for my project (which can be turned into products). Maybe work with film and journalism students to create a mini documentary or YouTube channel. Ultimately I would like to produce a range of cooking utensils/tableware, taking inspiration from global products.
I will start off by creating designs for aprons that reflect the stories of my research subjects.
Plan of action:
Gather stories from food outlets.
Set up a website/Instagram/Facebook page
Start writing content on spices.
Write recipes/start a book
Design aprons
