4. Other organizations, websites, and events relevant to this project

A number of other organizations are also documenting food and other aspects of life during the covid-19 pandemic. Also, numerous virtual conferences and symposia are now happening and planned in the future. Those will be added as they become available.

 

This list is not complete and can be expanded, so feel free to contribute information.

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1. The Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage, the Smithsonian Institution

Stories about various aspects of life under Covid-19, including some foodways traditions. (https://folklife.si.edu)

 

2. Vermont Folklife Center, Middebury, Vermont.

Listening in Place focuses on four responses to the COVID-19 emergency: the creation of a crowd-sourced Sound Archive to document our daily experiences during the pandemic, a series of online Virtual Story Circles, where Vermonters can gather remotely to listen and share during these challenging times.

(https://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/listening)

 

3. Dept of Nutrition and Food Studies, Steinhardt School, New York University. Project director, Dr. Amy Bentley (foodandcovid19@gmail.com)

“We are collecting materials related to New Yorkers’ experiences with food during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. We seek text-based and visual materials related to any aspect of the food system including but not limited to: agriculture and food production, advertising, composting, consumption, cooking, dining in public or at home, processing, product development, manufacturing, marketing, transportation, restaurants, shopping, storage, and waste. “

“Our focus is on the New York City metropolis, from all five boroughs and the larger metro area.  We want to collect and preserve the food experiences of all New Yorkers during the Covid-19 pandemic in all ways: food shortages and scarcities, food celebrations, and every day consumption.

The archive (once it’s up and running) will be searchable and open to researchers and the interested public.

Click on the link for more information and to upload your submissions.

https://forms.gle/AnRrxnwHSzyWV3oj6

This project is funded by the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Steinhardt School, New York University and the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS).  For more information contact foodandcovid19@gmail.com).

 

4. MOFAD—Museum of Food and Drink. Brooklyn, NY

“HOW TO HELP OUR FRIENDS IN THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY”

https://www.mofad.org/covid

 

5. Agrarian Trust

(https://mailchi.mp/4eabd86bb378/land-and-crisis-share-your-thoughts-with-us?e=5b1a7b0bbb)

 

6. Association of Public Historians of New York State

Historians: Start Documenting COVID-19

 

7. Cooking the Past

COVID-19 has brought so many of us into a new sort of relationship–fraught or otherwise–with cooking and food. We’ve been thinking a lot about how others have faced public and personal catastrophes, distance (social and otherwise), as well as scarcity and all of the anxieties that come with these experiences. We are struck by the way the coronavirus brings us together as a global community even as it separates us into the smallest iteration of “family” units. At the same time, we have found ourselves cooking and looking to the past for comfort, models, and inspiration to move forward.

 

In this vein, we have issued a call to cook, asking oral and public historians, as well as storytellers throughout the world, to share a food memory and a recipe that reflects on this pandemic. By “cooking the past,” we mean two things. First, we are dedicated to exploring our own compulsion to draw on familiar recipes in these troubled times. Also, “cooking,” as in “playing with” or “altering,” speaks to our creative efforts to both rethink and reframe our own engagements with stories of loss, community, family, and food heritages. While some posts will be nostalgic, paying homage to a simpler time, we also welcome those that offer an edgy perspective on the politics of this moment and how it may be viewed as an important break with the past. If re-envisioning how we address homelessness, food insecurity, healthcare, education, and other social issues moving forward, through story and food memories, means not including a recipe, know that our framework is completely flexible.

 

This improv and temporary project, as well as our call to cook, is available at www.historianscookingthepast.com. If you are inspired, please consider making a contribution to the project. Our hope is to understand this pandemic through storytelling, while also documenting the particular challenges we are all facing through varied international perspectives. Regardless, please follow along as we try to understand this quickly evolving situation as a community of storytellers.

 

8. Heritage Radio Network: https://heritageradionetwork.org

A Taste of the Past: Episode 350–Comfort Food

Hosted by Linda Pellacio; interview with Lucy Long, April 25, 2020

(https://heritageradionetwork.org/podcast/comfort-food/)

 

Heritage Radio Network:  https://heritageradionetwork.org

Coronavirus and the Food Sysem (3/16/20) (https://heritageradionetwork.org/covid19/)

 

9. STORYCORPS (https://storycorps.org)

 

Numerous public libraries and archives are documenting local responses. Check your local public library.