Flavors of Memory: Archiving food stories and recipes’

Abstract

Food does not arrive quietly. It comes carrying recipes, seasons, caste, labour, migration, memory, love, and also hunger. It is a living archive shaped by place, people and moments in kitchens. Situated in Bidar, this Make-a-thon is rooted in the food practices of the Lambani community, treating their everyday cooking practices as primary sites of knowledge. Our learning unfolds between tanda (Lambani settlemets) and the Devagiri forest, among hills and thick tress where pots are set down and cooking happens together with the people of the place. Through shared cooking, oral histories, and documentation, we co-learn and engage with how recipes carry stories of ecology, gendered labour, caste, and cultural continuity. The course adopts situated, hands-on learning modes of field immersion, collaborative cooking, listening, writing, and visual making to archive these practices ethically and collaboratively. Recipes are approached as evolving narratives shaped by context and change while also being instructions. By learning closely with community members, we co-create archives that foreground community voices while reflecting on their own food memories, positioning archiving as a practice of care and responsibility. The course will benefit learners in cultural studies, design, anthropology, literature, and archival practice, or anyone interested in outdoor cooking, as well as practitioners interested in community research, food heritage, and creative documentation.

Who is this relevant to?

Learners should apply if they wish to:

• Learn hands-on methods of archiving (oral history, narrativised recipe writing, photography, zine-making, etc)

• Experience Outdoor cooking with community and

• Experience collaborative cooking as a mode of inquiry and storytelling.

• Co-create tangible outputs like a zine, cookbook, or visual archive rooted in community voices.

Key words

Food stories, recipes, oral history, memory, archiving, cooking together, zines, cultural documentation, intergenerational knowledge

Course objectives

1. To highlight food as a site of memory and cultural continuity.

2. To document and archive recipes and stories from the Lambani community.

3. To provide learners with basic skills in participatory research, storytelling, and creative archiving.

4. To create collaborative artifacts (zine/cookbook/visual archive) as outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, learners will:

1. Document recipes and food stories from the Lambani community.

2. Gain hands-on skills in archiving – oral histories, recipe writing, visual documentation.

3. Experience collaborative cooking as a method of learning.

4. Produce tangible outputs (zine, cookbook, visual archive).

5. Reflect on how food connects people, identities, and places.

What you bring?

This course does not require any prior training or technical background. What matters most is your orientation:

• Openness to cook, share, listen, and document.

• Learners encouraged to bring a family recipe or food story to share.

• Basic materials: notebook, sketchbook, pens/pencils, phone/camera (for recording).

What will you make?

• Community cookbook (recipes + stories)

• Zine (illustrations, photos, oral histories)

• Visual archive (digital/print collection of stories and recipes)

Course Fee

The course is free of facilitation & material costs.

The costs of accommodation and food, local transport, and travel to and fro Venue has to be covered by the learners.

Costs to be Covered by Learners

Accommodation & Food: Learners must organise their own stay. We will help and facilitate it with hotels we know. Place of working will be in the Bidar Nodal Center during the day. Once the learners are short-listed, we will ask for accommodation preferences and organise as necessary. It may cost 1000 to 1500 approx per day, depending on room and sharing. This amount has to be paid by the learner directly to the Hotel on check-out. 

Local Transport: There will be costs of local transport using shared autos or AC taxis, which will be organised. The per day cost will be 500 - 1000 INR approx per learner (this course requires travel to Aurad daily, 50 kms from Bidar). 

Travel to and fro Venue: Learners need to organise their own travel either by bus or train to Bidar. They should reach the Venue by noon on 12th of March. Departure is post 6 pm on the 15th of March. 

Cost of any equipment or other specific materials relevant to Learner’s practice. We recommend the learners to carry any specialised equipments or materials with them to Bidar.