“Food means a lot more than what we put into our mouths: it is an object of our aspirations and our memories. It is a vehicle for nostalgia, and also for prestige. It is a way that people communicate who they are, the group to which they belong, and who they desire to become.”
Alishya Gálvez, Eating NAFTA
Brewing Memories
Created and facilitated by chef and educator Carolina Saavedra, the workshop series Brewing Memories combines the learning of medicinal plants (sustainable ways to grow them, their traditional uses, their nutritional, medicinal and cultural properties), with collaborative artistic creation.
In the Brewing Memories series, workshop participants become familiarized with the plants using different senses (touch, smell, taste, vision) and also by engaging with them collectively, creatively, and historically. Besides collectively learning (or remembering) indigenous practices and knowledges centered in the use of medicinal plants as a way to care for oneself, to care for others, and to care for the environment, workshop participants also share experiences and memories, and create something from these memories.
Brewing Memories encourages creation and, at the same time, creates worlds, inviting participants to connect with others in the public, recalling memories together in a pandemic context where casual encounters are more difficult to come by.
Brewing Memories offers and facilitates a space where the community can care for itself and continue to flourish, like plants, so that new connections can take root.
To learn more about this series, check out the Brewing Memories Archive.