Community projects
A participatory community project integrating cooking, storytelling, and embodied learning
The Cultural and Scientific Journey of Food is a community-based art and education project that explores how food connects memory, identity, and social healing. Through hands-on cooking, intergenerational storytelling, movement-based rituals, and multisensory workshops, the project engages immigrant youth and elders across New York City in reclaiming food as a source of cultural pride, embodied knowledge, and civic awareness.In one pilot gathering, participants used mugwort from a backyard garden to make traditional Qingtuan (green rice balls), igniting sensory memories and stories across generations. Food here is not just nourishment—it becomes a language of resilience, ritual, and re-connection.
Elevator Pitch
The Cultural and Scientific Journey of Food is a community-based project that uses cooking, storytelling, and sensory exploration to connect immigrant youth and elders in New York City. By treating food as a cultural language, the project creates space for healing, memory, and social awareness.
Concept Map
This project connects food to five core ideas:
Memory – food as cultural archive
Movement – embodied learning through cooking
Science – nutrition and sustainability
Storytelling – intergenerational connectionJustice – community resilience and advoc
Reflective Entries
Working with mugwort in a backyard reminded me that community doesn’t require formality—it requires presence. Food brought together strangers, generations, and stories I didn’t expect to hear. It made the invisible visible.
Joan Tronto’s concept of “ethics of care” helped frame food-making as a relational and political act. Cooking is not just practical—it’s emotional labor, cultural survival, and social resistance.