Pelmeni: A Cooking Conversation
A conversational cooking workshop that looks into the origins of pelmeni from the semi-nomadic Uralic hunters' sustenance to their present status as a national dish of Russia. The name originates from the Udmurt language: pel' nyan' meaning 'ear bread' due to its shape. Using them as a listening tool, we open up discussions about unwritten histories, knowledges and their meaning in the current context. I use pelmeni as a tool for an ongoing project of listening and collecting hidden knowledges. During the cooking sessions there were a selection of prompts and questions to guide the conversation.
Various renditions of the dumpling-making workshop have taken place in locations such as Roodkapje Rotterdam, West Den Haag, HKU Utrecht, Buitenplaats Brienenoord, Rotterdam, and Can Serrat, Barcelona.
Pelmeni: A Conversation Cookbook
'Pelmeni: A Conversation Cookbook' presents the starting point of an investigation into the histories of pelmeni, a type of dumpling originating from nomadic peoples of the Ural mountains. Over a course of four small pelmeni-making sessions with women from different backgrounds, I collected oral histories of language, food and practices of home in 2021.
This is part of a longer-term project that looks into the origins of pelmeni from hunters' sustenance to their present status as a national dish of Russia. Alongside looking into this history of assimilation through the expansion of the Russian Empire, I also seek to set down minor histories: stories of day-to-day life for women who have moved to the Netherlands from elsewhere.
The collaborative making of pelmeni—literally translated from Udmurti as ear-bread—foregrounds cooking together as a time for listening. The workshops took place in Rotterdam and Utrecht, in the autumn of 2021 in English, Dutch and Russian languages.
The book is available for sale:
Rotterdam: PrintRoom, KIOSK & Kunstinstituut Melly
Amsterdam: Framer Framed
London: South London Gallery
Newcastle upon Tyne: The NewBridge Project.
Please get in touch if you would like to purchase a copy or to stock these in your shop.
This project was supported by Stichting Droom en Daad.
Printed in RISO with PrintRoom.
Publication launched at LIFE, Rotterdam with generous help of Ash Kilmartin.
to amplify, to strengthen
To Amplify To Strengthen is an immersive four-channel sound installation based on multiple cooking conversations whilst making pelmeni.
Over the last few years, several cooking-with-dough gatherings opened up many emotions and urgencies to consider. Personal histories were shared (intimate and complex) from family stories to first-hand experiences to situated common knowledges from the specific regions within the territories that are currently governed by the Russian Federation. Each conversation revealed personal and familial memory, history of a particular region with its spoken and forgotten languages and/or traditions, as well as an oral recount of past and ongoing homogenisation. This project seeks to find an answer how these knowledges or oral histories can be amplified through an artistic practice.
The dough allowed space and time to bring out different perspectives, to realign and to focus on the forgotten, erased or unwritten histories. These multifaceted voices are tied together by one common thread: colonialism, from its imperial history to its effects today. The aim of this project is to bring together and amplify the spoken words, and thereby to strengthen their significance. The title of the project is a direct translation of a Russian word усилить ‘usilit’’ which can mean both to amplify and to strengthen.
The cloth represents the dough that was used during the cooking process. It also serves as a theatrical curtain reveal of the hidden (hi)story that is highlighted and amplified. The speakers are positioned onto the stands at a human height where the loudspeaker represents the human head. It hints towards a history of propaganda announcements. Each conversation has been edited to conceal the identity of the spokesperson in a way that the segments of the story can be heard but the voice is distorted. Each rolling pin has been carved to fit the shape of the participants’ hands in order to depict their physical touch and presence within the installation to accompany the shared knowledge.
To Amplify To Strengthen shown at an other world, Rotterdam. Sound design: Olivier Terpstra.
Project supported by Mondriaan Fonds & CBK Rotterdam.