an ordinary hole-in-the-wall along macleod before the railway underpass

“an ordinary hole-in-the-wall along macleod before the railway underpass” (AOHITWAMBTRU) was a temporary food stall specializing in house-made tofu, rice cakes, noodles and preserved foods. The food stall menu is inspired by the act of using hands to form food into vessels. Here, identity and authenticity are characterized through labour and technique, rather than flavour. Cooking and eating translates that which has no words or cannot be said, becoming a method of communication in the absence of literal voices – ones which can’t be heard from the lack of knowledge/understanding, lack of ability of the one trying to speak/hear, and the contexts which do not allow for voices to be heard. Cooking and eating become the source of pleasure, livelihood, anchors of identity, that weathers distances, time, generations and East Asian diasporas. During this exhibition, I undertook the labour of making food and sharing as an offer of experience that doesn’t require too many words, only in the visitor’s indulgence in comforting food.

Cooking Shows

Part of the project involved live streams of four cooking shows, each of which explores recipes and foodstuffs that are staples in East Asian cuisines. The cooking shows were hosted live on Twitch.tv, using OBS Studio as the streaming platform. Special thanks to Jadda Tsui for assisting with tech.

Dinner Nights

The public was invited to three dinner nights, each night offering a pre-determined list of available sets:

To order a set, people had to fill out this form:

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Menu Book

An accompanying Risograph publication features contributions by Amy Lam, Areum Kim, Cindy Mochizuki, Ryan Tang, and Teresa Tam.

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