Entropies
Noa Jansma, Pollyanna Moss, Ilja Schamlé—230 x 160 mm—66 pages—2023—English
Entropies is the continuation of a series of culinary performances carried out by Noa Jansma, Ilja Schamlé, and Pollyanna Moss, during which they asked visitors for their apple pie recipe, the so-called national dessert of the Netherlands. Through the recipes, stories about national heritage, domestic labour, and exchange are shared.
This self-published zine brings together these recipes along with contributions from various artists—Orlando Lovell, Kiriko Mechanicus, Noam Youngkrak Son, and Sofia Tsyhanok— who reflect on Dutch identity. How can we relate to domesticity in a way that reevaluates this work outside of the capitalist realm?
«I find myself grappling with the weight of historical knowledge. I try to "know" the problems of the past, of my ancestors' violent colonial pasts, but how do I situate myself in relation to these same perpetuating systems? [...] An intimate interaction with food through other people's recipes changes time. [...] In this food exploration I can look at stories of our biosphere and ancestors and simultaneously imagine different worlds an relationships to ourselves and the environment: my internal self transcends the organic, who I am is not discrete anymore.»
—Ilja Schamlé
Recetario para la memoria (Guanajuato)
Zahara Gómez Lucini—230 x 166 mm—272 pages—2022—ISBN9786078861040—Spanish
A second edition of Recetario para la memoria, by photographer Zahara Gómez Lucini, came to light two years ago, and it focuses on the state of Guanajuato. These lands, during colonial times, were Mexico's breadbasket. This vast and sunny valley at the northern edge of Mesoamerica was inhabited by nomads (commonly known as Chichimecas, but also including the Pame, Guamares, Zacatecos, and Guachihiles nations), who traveled its lands according to the seasons.
From this land came the corn, wheat, and beans that nourished the bodies that worked the land; from here came the sorghum that fed the pigs and cattle that would provide protein to the colonisers; from here came the alfalfa that nourished the horses that pulled the carts loaded with minerals. «Colonisation lays the groundwork for subsequent migrations,» warned American historian Aviva Chomsky, 500 years later, in her book Indocumentados.
The new dynamics uprooted small farmers who sought their luck on the other side of the border or in the emerging textile factories. All this was perceptible in the landscape: the green or golden fields, depending on the season of alfalfa, corn, sorghum, or wheat, gave way to a homogeneous gray of industrial warehouses and auto assemblers. The land cracked, and where fruits and vegetables once grew, bodies of missing people also began to be harvested.
The work of Zahara, Clarisa Moura, and the voices that shed light on one of Mexico's most serious problems—Daniela Rea, Mayra Lopineda, Jessica Chantal Alcázar Romero, Cinthya Cecilia Alvarado Rivera, Fabrizio Lorusso, Zahara Gómez Lucini, and Alejandra Díaz— translates into a space of hope for thousands of families who, in the face of impunity, find strength in their roots.
The Leaked Recipes Cookbook
JBE Books—272 x 190 mm—280 pages—2020—ISBN9782365680318—English
Leaked Recipes emerges from Demetria Glace's thorough investigation into the most astonishing leaks of the last 15 years, with a particular emphasis on the kitchen.
Within the pages of this book, Wikileaks, Hillary Clinton, the Pizzagate scandal, and exchanges between employees of leading companies like Enron and Sony coexist. Beyond offering over 50 recipes, including the best cookies and a secret barbecue sauce, this work serves as a window into office culture, conspiracy, politics, corruption, hacking, family dynamics, and friendships.
Hacia un enfoque alimentario de la muerte
Taller de Ediciones Económicas—187 x 120 mm—20 pages—2023—Spanish
In Mexico, we met Nicolás Pradilla, editor of Taller de Ediciones Económicas and translator of this text by Val Plumwood (1930-2008) —an Australian philosopher and ecofeminist known for her critique of anthropocentrism—, originally published posthumously as Tasteless: Towards a Food-Based Approach to Death in Environmental Values Vol. 17.
The author reflects on two personal encounters with death: being attacked by a crocodile and burying her son in a rural cemetery amidst abundant plant life. She questions the exceptionalism that separates humans from nature, reflected in the choice between two conceptions of death: one of continuity in the spiritual realm, and the other, a materialistic reductionism where death marks the end of one's story.
Towards a Food-Based Approach to Death advocates for an animistic materialism in which life is conceived as a process of circulation, where funeral practices can affirm that death is an opportunity for life for others in the ecological community.
FOOD - 200 Images and 2 Videos Exploring Our Relationship with Consumption
DITO Publishing—180 x 110 mm—212 pages—2023—ISBN9791280304216—English
Martha Micali and Klim Kutsevskyy founded DITO Publishing in 2020, an independent publishing house based in Rome, dedicated to contemporary photography and visual arts. They specialise in limited and special editions, closely collaborating with artists and curators to amplify the languages of photography and print media.
FOOD is a visual and collective exploration that examines our relationship with food consumption, offering a broad perspective through the eyes of over a hundred contemporary artists, such as Kenneth Lin, Abbas Kowsari, Joanna Epstein, Ashley McElroy, Daria Shoshani, Erica Bardi, Antonia Bara, Marianna Mondelos, Camilla Casadei Maldini, Stefano Ghidetti, or Silvia Tack.
Understanding the act of eating as part of complex social, economic, and environmental dynamics leads us to reflect on our species and how we interact with our environment, as well as on the current meaning of food.