November 1, 2016 - 11:40
I think in part due to The Book of Salt, one thing that really struck me from the video was using food as
There was a segment pretty early in which one of the women was talking about the different vegetables they were planting for the season. She would say each in three languages- what it's called in English and Spanish, and then one in an African dialect. She also spoke about different dishes and how they were passed down. Food is so central to identiy and community making, and it was so amazing to see that represented as such in this community. Food as being a (literal) root of how the members of Las Parcelas are connected to each other and to their ancestral cultures. One of the last quotes in the video is "This African Garden is one of the roots Puerto Ricans have in their blood." Not just the food or the planting, but the community that those actions create. Thinking about how often Binh thinks about his mother and his home through the lens of food and cooking, plants especially.
Something else I was thinking about, because of my Art History reading for the week (one collector was obsessed with the idea of figuring out what REAL or AUTHENTIC Africa was (??)), was this idea of "authenticity." Post-credits, there is a call for aid in making the garden more "authentic." So, I'm just thinking about what that means and if that can happen.