Cao Nguyen Huy Hoang
Sarah Kirchner
Hoang:
"Like you I also found a food that is central to my culture as a whole instead of just my family; rice.
My country is one of the top rice exporter and possibly one of the biggest rice consumers on this globe. We also plaster rice paddies across every tourist ads we can get our hands on too!
If I were to meet my great grand fathers and great grand mothers they'd be rice farmers. But now, as our country aspires to conform to a position "superior" in the world stage, none of the youth my age, or even millennials who live in urban setting consider rice farming respectable nor central despite the fact we eat it every day. Our way of asking whether someone has had a meal is "ăn cơm chưa" (have you had rice?).
Curiously, at the broken rice (a cheaper type of rice that is preferred for its versatility and quick consumption) vendor I subsist on everyday name itself "Cơm tấm Mỹ" or American broken rice.
Heritage for me now is a confusing change at neck breaking speed for our country to become America, even though we still self-censor ourselves politically and expects each of us to conform to a level of neoliberal competition in the workplace as well as in academia. For me this feels toxic and unhealthy, not that this progress only brings negativity.
I first planned to find overinflated labels of rice that name themselves America as subject in my photo but all the store ran out of that type and the other ones were closed.
Instead, I'll try to mix the dollar and rice. Posing the age old thesis that "how much a dollar cost?", I want to unravel how we can't see the value in the thing that we subsist on every day."
If I were to meet my great grand fathers and great grand mothers they'd be rice farmers. But now, as our country aspires to conform to a position "superior" in the world stage, none of the youth my age, or even millennials who live in urban setting consider rice farming respectable nor central despite the fact we eat it every day. Our way of asking whether someone has had a meal is "ăn cơm chưa" (have you had rice?).
Curiously, at the broken rice (a cheaper type of rice that is preferred for its versatility and quick consumption) vendor I subsist on everyday name itself "Cơm tấm Mỹ" or American broken rice.
Heritage for me now is a confusing change at neck breaking speed for our country to become America, even though we still self-censor ourselves politically and expects each of us to conform to a level of neoliberal competition in the workplace as well as in academia. For me this feels toxic and unhealthy, not that this progress only brings negativity.
I first planned to find overinflated labels of rice that name themselves America as subject in my photo but all the store ran out of that type and the other ones were closed.
Instead, I'll try to mix the dollar and rice. Posing the age old thesis that "how much a dollar cost?", I want to unravel how we can't see the value in the thing that we subsist on every day."
Sarah:
"Like I already mentioned in a previous E-Mail I feel like I don´t have much that connects me with my home country.
On top of that my family does not place importance on establishing or keeping up with traditions.
I read that heritage can also be defined as interests and rituals that have been passes on through generations.
My whole family, even the ones who are not related by blood, are super passionate gardeners or plant parents.
My mum is an incredibly talented. Our garden in Germany is really like an oasis and small paradise.
Through her my dad also got involved and both of them spend most of their weekends gardening.
My mums ex-husband is a professional gardener and landscaper.
My oldest brother has a piece of land outside of the city with an orchard and a small vegetable farm.
My other brother is running a restaurant with a beer garden in the middle of a forest, next to a river where he grows all sorts plants.
And lastly me who has her own urban jungle in her city apartment. I know so Millenial of me. I also grew a bunch of vegetables on my roof last summer - even more Millenial.
Still I wanted to find something that is less specific to my family, and more specific to the country I grew up in.
I mentioned this before but I am very passionate about bread. We always had the most delicious fresh bread at home and it is the number one thing I always miss when I am abroad.
Oddly enough I never baked bread myself.
I looked up some recipes for sourdough bread and learned about the beautiful process of bread making.
It takes up to a full week, filled with daily rituals, for the bread to be ready.
I decided to document the process for this week´s assignment."
"Like I already mentioned in a previous E-Mail I feel like I don´t have much that connects me with my home country.
On top of that my family does not place importance on establishing or keeping up with traditions.
I read that heritage can also be defined as interests and rituals that have been passes on through generations.
My whole family, even the ones who are not related by blood, are super passionate gardeners or plant parents.
My mum is an incredibly talented. Our garden in Germany is really like an oasis and small paradise.
Through her my dad also got involved and both of them spend most of their weekends gardening.
My mums ex-husband is a professional gardener and landscaper.
My oldest brother has a piece of land outside of the city with an orchard and a small vegetable farm.
My other brother is running a restaurant with a beer garden in the middle of a forest, next to a river where he grows all sorts plants.
And lastly me who has her own urban jungle in her city apartment. I know so Millenial of me. I also grew a bunch of vegetables on my roof last summer - even more Millenial.
Still I wanted to find something that is less specific to my family, and more specific to the country I grew up in.
I mentioned this before but I am very passionate about bread. We always had the most delicious fresh bread at home and it is the number one thing I always miss when I am abroad.
Oddly enough I never baked bread myself.
I looked up some recipes for sourdough bread and learned about the beautiful process of bread making.
It takes up to a full week, filled with daily rituals, for the bread to be ready.
I decided to document the process for this week´s assignment."
"Was super nice talking to you on the phone! Lets do that more often.
I spent the whole week baking bread.
First I had to make the starter. You mix flour and water and then you let it ferment overnight. Every day you keep feeding the mixture with fresh flour and water. It becomes a daily ritual. Just in this simple daily act I felt like I connected to my heritage.
The mixture absorbs the bacteria that is in its surroundings and creates its own unique bacteria culture in the dough.
This means that every loaf you bake is so specific to your current environment.
For me this is a beautiful metaphor for my own understanding of heritage.
I will always have my German roots within me but at the same time I am made up of my surroundings, which are ever changing.
I would also like to point out that I did not succeed in baking a perfect loaf. My result is tasty but far from photogenic.
I went to a local bakery to get some fresh loafs to photograph. I went for a very make-shift background in order to stress the manual work that went into the bread making.
In the back you can see parts of the packaging of the loaf. I did not want to pretend that I achieved this perfect result in the end.
It was more about the process and the daily ritual in the end."
I spent the whole week baking bread.
First I had to make the starter. You mix flour and water and then you let it ferment overnight. Every day you keep feeding the mixture with fresh flour and water. It becomes a daily ritual. Just in this simple daily act I felt like I connected to my heritage.
The mixture absorbs the bacteria that is in its surroundings and creates its own unique bacteria culture in the dough.
This means that every loaf you bake is so specific to your current environment.
For me this is a beautiful metaphor for my own understanding of heritage.
I will always have my German roots within me but at the same time I am made up of my surroundings, which are ever changing.
I would also like to point out that I did not succeed in baking a perfect loaf. My result is tasty but far from photogenic.
I went to a local bakery to get some fresh loafs to photograph. I went for a very make-shift background in order to stress the manual work that went into the bread making.
In the back you can see parts of the packaging of the loaf. I did not want to pretend that I achieved this perfect result in the end.
It was more about the process and the daily ritual in the end."
Cao Nguyen Huy Hoang preparing food
Sarah Kirchner preparing food