Kitchen Whispers
Shravika Bothra
We are what we eat. We use food to celebrate at weddings, birthdays, and family gatherings. It brings people together. When I initially started on my thesis, I was just looking at how one recipe traveled across countries and how I could spread it more. I saw that was not giving me the results I wanted and I wanted to make a book with stories and recipes – something which talks about my relationship with my friends and family and what I make for them. I started cooking when I was about 11. There has always been a part of me which has wanted to go to culinary school instead. But because I am vegetarian, there are not too many options out there. So to keep practicing I keep cooking a lot. People have told me I am a good cook and I know I am. I may not know to arrange it or place it but what I cannot do in presentation I make up for in cooking. This book is not mass-produced, but rather is printed in small batches of 10-20 to give to its participants. How- ever Kitchen Whispers does not just end up on someone’s coffee table. To spread its contents, I slipped postcard-sized recipe cards under people’s doors and left it in mail rooms. I made these so people can start collecting these recipes cards or making the food using the recipe sent and then posting it on the blog for others to see. With this work I represent moments between me and people closest to me. I reveal stories about our relationship and then link it to a recipe or a dish we connect to. I then make the food and document it. But then it goes on to others revealing stories if they wish to, if nothing just hanging on to the recipe to make it one day for someone, which will start a new story.