Making a cook book

During her residency at La Trobe Art Institute, curator and Making Good coalition member Bianca Winataputri spent time in the most popular section of the Bendigo library: the cookbook section (641.5-563). In reflection of the fact that there were no cookbooks by local Bendigo authors, Bianca invites home cooks, gardeners, researchers, chefs, academics, artists, and local residents to share a recipe towards a collectively authored cookbook.

For this event Bianca invited Food Art Research Network members to co-host an event asking audiences to bring a recipe or an ingredient and join a conversation that encompassed the politics and future of food production, recipe sharing, and experiences of growing, cooking and eating in the region more broadly.

We tasted Mango Sticky Rice, Pandan Tea, Edible Flowers, Foraged Fruit Leathers, Ginger Cookies, Ooray (sour plum) balls, Wattleseed biscuits and Artichoke Hearts.

As part of the program: Making Good: Propositions for Institutions: On collaboration, storytelling and making a collective cookbook

Latrobe Art Institute invited publics to join members of the coalition for two hybrid sessions to share reflections, prompts and propositions for our collective future. They write: “We queried the ‘new normal’, the practices we wanted to keep and those we didn’t, and how we might return from collective challenges. Local and international artists and curators – the Making Good coalition – have helped us explore this line of questioning. Together, we have tested, practised and proposed ideas and methods relating to hospitality, working and instituting. With a focus on methods over outcomes, we are pleased to share some of the ideas, collaborations and conversations that emerged during the year.”