The history of food dates back to the age of the caveman, which is about 200,000 years ago, within this space the development of food and how we prepare it has shaped our identity, geography and anatomy as human beings. Fundamentally we are what we eat. The ISTD brief inscribed one to look into the development of food through cultures and societies. It asked for an exploration of food or how it is prepared within the context of people, events, and location.
In sum, the brief is looking for a story to be told about food and how it has influenced the way we view the world. It is within these stories that we find truths, changes and identities about ourselves and the societies we live in.
I used the Hindu ceremony, Shraddha, as the final concept to answer the brief. It gives homage to our dead ancestors, by providing food as nourishment, strength and support to the spirit of their ancestors as they travel the different spiritual realms to heaven.
The outcome for this project was a representation of food in an editorial, on cards within a package. It consist of five batches of cards with a final card as the conclusion and all the cards are back to front. The pack helps the reader in navigating through the cards and provides an introduction to the ritual. Furthermore, the pack represents a banana leaf which is used in the ritual as a plate, on which the food is placed on.
The five batches of cards consists of the history of each of the five ancestors and their relationship with specific dishes, represented with a recipe. It includes quotes taken from the ritualist, describing the relationship between the ancestors and their unique dish representation.
Additionally, there are symbols that where created and are specific to each ancestor. They where created by using the brackets in the chosen type family (Apple Garamond { }), for the project. They also have been used in the patterns on the sleeved to further categories each set of cards.
Lastly, each batch or ancestor has special cards that identify an additional food item that they enjoyed while they were alive. This is accompanied by a story about the ancestor and the food item.
