MIGRANT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS' RIGHTS

A Muse Bouche | Dominica Tang and Lindsay Chisholm

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Our previous article, “The Museum In My Kitchen: Trying WWI Recipes,” centered on the role of food in museums during a pandemic, specifically within the context of food shortages in Canada. We explained that the rise in food shortages in Canada were brought on in part by the travel ban that prevented many agricultural migrant workers from entering the country. Agricultural migrant workers have since begun work on farms again, but that does not mean our food industry should return to business as usual. Many Canadian farmers violated the basic rights of these workers, and continue to do so. This has only worsened during the pandemic. Although discussions of these human rights problems are only now becoming dinner table conversations in many Canadian homes, these issues are endemic to Canada’s colonial structures and have occurred for generations.

Fresh produce at a grocery store. Source. 

European settlers in Canada have been exploiting people of colour for cheap labour since the late 1800’s. According to the Royal BC’s Museum research project on “Ethnic Agricultural Labour,” the workers were Indigenous, Chinese, Japanese, Doukhobor, and Portuguese. Today the agricultural sector is heavily dependent on seasonal migrant workers, mostly from countries in the Caribbean and Mexico, through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The agricultural industry is labour intensive and requires highly skilled workers. In the bee keeping sector, for example, one must have the ability to identify the queen among tens of thousand of worker bees and detect mite infestation. A day’s work can consist of long hours, working with dangerous machinery, and under difficult climatic conditions. Workers must adhere to these strenuous working situations with inadequate pay. Living conditions on these properties are no better. They are often cramped, dirty, and receive little ventilation. The authors of “Canada jeopardizes migrant workers amid pandemic,” likens these conditions to an “open-air prison.” The sordid living and working conditions have become a hotbed for the rapid spread of the virus. Given the cramped conditions, workers cannot quarantine or work while social-distancing. Consequently, there are three reported deaths and hundreds of new COVID-19 cases springing up within these farms. Recently, the Nature Fresh farm in Ontario has shut down due to an outbreak of COVID-19. This situation truly speaks to the inadequacy of Canada's food infrastructure. Graeme McKay put it best in their editorial cartoon: "Covid grows in Ontario."



Currently, there are no formal structures in place, either in the programs that bring workers to the farms or in the federal government, that effectively hold these employers accountable for the mistreatment of their workers. Additionally, migrant workers have very few rights to express concern as they are not permanent residents. Their unstable and uncertain status with lack of ability to unionize, makes them vulnerable to exploitation by their employers. The work permit visa stipulates that migrant workers may only be affiliated with one employer per temporary residency contract term. Since they are tied to one employer, speaking out against them would risk their deportation.

The mistreatment and exploitation of migrant workers is inherently racist, and a violation of their human rights. Additionally, some Canadians felt emboldened by COVID-19 to express their racism more explicitly through racial profiling, barring these workers from entering shops, and surveilling them. To document the completion of the self-isolation period for individuals who have recently arrived in Canada, The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit created identification cards. However, the health unit only distributed the cards to migrant agricultural workers and have since discontinued the cards. The association of plague with racialized bodies is not a novel phenomenon in the discourses of white supremacy. Recall just earlier this year when many attacked Chinese people — both verbally and physically — and vilified their food, because some scientists speculated that COVID-19 originated from wet markets in Wuhan, China. Mainstream culture treats racialized bodies as if they are “a risk, rather than at risk.”

A banner for migrant workers rights at the May Day of Action rally. Source. 

Museums, such as the Canadian Museum of Human Rights and the Royal BC Museum, have researched and exhibited these issues to some extent, but museums are more connected to migrant workers than in the collection of migrant workers’ oral histories or in educating their publics on the injustices that these workers face. Many museums offer food programming or provide food services, making them part of the food supply chain where they likely benefit from the labour of migrant agricultural workers. As part of the food supply chain, and as cultural institutions, museums should practice ethical food consumption. Indeed, museums have discussed ethical food consumption practices in the past and there is already a responsible procurement policy published in A Sustainable Development Guide for Canada’s Museum Food.  However, museums, as cultural institutions who are beholden to their publics, ought to take a more active and outward stance. Jordan Fee opined, in “‘Where Does This Come From?’: Pondering Provenance In The Global Supply Chain,” that the food industry ought to take a page from museum’s collection policies on provenance, but perhaps there is mutual learning to be had. Food provenance can persuade consumers to stop purchasing from unethical businesses, such as the farmers who are guilty of exploiting and discriminating against migrant agricultural workers, and demand that guilty farmers be held accountable and regulations be put in place to ensure worker's rights are upheld. This approach is already taking place in the museum's collections as seen in the repatriation of stolen objects, but museums ought to dissolve that silo-mentality and investigate other parts of the museum as well. If only abandoning the practice of stealing artifacts is not good enough, then only halting business with farms that violate human rights is not sufficient either.

As individuals, what we collect and ingest must follow these same standards. This is a time of introspection. Are the foods you consume ethically sourced? How are you supporting migrant agricultural workers? Armando Perla's chapter "Representing Agricultural Migrant Workers in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights," in The Idea of a Human Rights Museum, underscores that while some farmers- typically those who own larger farms- are the ones violating the worker's basic rights, the Canadian "government's inactivity has allowed the perpetuation of a system that discriminates against and exploits foreign workers without any accountability." As such, we ought to hold our government accountable for their inaction and for upholding  these oppressive systems. You can sign the Migrant Rights Network’s petition to call on federal, provincial, and municipal leaders to provide migrant workers with health care, with worker’s protection, and to grant them permanent resident status.

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A FINAL FAREWELL: LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Letter from the Editor | Jordan Fee & Alexandra Forand

Hello Musings readers! At the Faculty of Information, many changes have occurred over the past couple of weeks due to the precautions taken In response to CoVid-19, but one thing that has remained the same is the Musings! We always strive to provide you with great content throughout the school year, and we have not stopped! We, your outgoing editors-in-chief, wanted to take a moment and reflect on this past semester and acknowledge all the hard work of our team of incredibly talented contributing editors.

Without further ado let’s get started!

Ally: Jordan, has your 2020 been “roaring?”

Jordan: Well, it’s been exciting to say the least! Although the return of the 20s has not been quite as smooth as we might have expected, it is important to remember that this decade holds some incredible potential for all of us in the museum field! We’ve been lucky to feature incredible articles from some of our contributing editors that examine the relationship between the 1920s and our current age. From Natalie’s article about fashion in the 1920’s, to Carys’s exploration of Toronto during this iconic decade, we’ve seen an incredible burst of energy and talent from all of our editors on the Musings team. Even just this week, we published an article by Martin about the Canadian scientist Frederick Banting, who in 1923 won a Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin. Talk about topical!

Photo courtesy of Natalie Heaton

Ally: And for every article that took us back in time, there was an article that looked to current events. A few of my favourites were Michelle’s latest article discussing what museums are doing in the face of the pandemic, Amelia’s article theorizing the queer museum, and Elizabeth’s alumni check in with Kristen McLaughlin where they discussed the evolving role of museums in Canada.

Jordan: Speaking of the evolving role of museums, I was incredibly excited that Defne continued her series on teaching climate change in the museum, as this is perhaps one of the most complicated issues of our time. Knowing that there is a generation of museum workers who are dedicated to exploring difficult topics such as this one makes me incredibly hopeful. While I am sad to be ending my time in the Museum Studies program, I cannot wait to join all of my new colleagues in the professional field!

Also, I would be remiss not to mention the fantastic articles that Madison has produced on the current state of the GLAM sector! Increased collaboration between galleries, libraries, archives and museums is one of the other ways in which our industry can improve, and I feel glad to know that others support this idea as well.

Ally: While we are seeing the evolution of the museum field, it is comforting to know the field is concentrating on improving themselves with the basics. For instance, Jessica showed us simple ways to enhance storage in museums and Jaime showed us how beneficial it can be to bring in visitors to the collection.

Jordan: Also, Samantha, enlightened us on how fundraising effects and is affected by every single person in the museum!

Ally: It certainly is strange knowing that we are so close to completing our time in the program. Even more so, it feels odd to be leaving the Musings team after two years of fun times and community building! I don’t think that either of us expected to be in the role of Editor-in-Chief when we began the program, but now I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Whether we were producing content, running story workshops with our Communications Officer Erika or having end-of-semester brunch celebrations, we took every opportunity to increase Musings’s presence in the Faculty of Information! While we are sad to be leaving our posts, we cannot wait to see what next year’s editors produce!

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☕️🥞Annual Holiday Brunch with the Musings Editorial Team🥞☕️

A post shared by Musings - MMSt Student Blog (@musingsmmst) on Dec 8, 2019 at 12:02pm PST

Jordan: While this semester signalled a lot of endings, we also had a lot of new beginnings. Melissa established a brand new column discussing GLAM and wellness, the Museum Professionals of Color (MPOC) was established and they held their first panel around the theme of “Museum Detox,” and many, many exhibition openings! I particularly enjoyed Elizabeth’s review of the Winnie the Pooh exhibition at the ROM, Mary’s review of Waiting for Snow at the Art Museum of University of Toronto, Dominica and Lindsay’s experience of the "Vertical Intersections Installation, Workshop & Pok¡ Launch," at Mackenzie House, and Erika’s narrative surrounding New Circadia (adventures in Mental Spelunking) at the Design and Architecture Gallery. 

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ICYMI: on Thursday, March 12, MPOC hosted our first ever panel in collaboration with @mussauoft! The goal of our Museum Detox panel was to foster dialogue about removing social barriers in museum and implementing anti-racist praxis. It was an incredible privilege to listen to the perspectives of our three panelists, Wendy Ng, J’net Ayay Qwa Yak Sheelth, and @justjohnforreal. Thank you to everyone who helped us achieve this groundbreaking step in our journey, from our MPOC members, to staff, faculty, and all the beautiful people watching. Here’s to continuing to learn, grow, and change the world together. If you couldn’t be there, not to worry! You can watch the livestream video at the link in our bio ❤️ • • • • #museumstudies #museumhue #diversity #inclusion #museums #uoft #toronto #art #history #culture #intersectionality #museumsarenotneutral

A post shared by Museum Professionals of Colour (@mpoc.uoft) on Mar 16, 2020 at 11:22am PDT

Ally: Speaking of exhibition openings, a number of us second years were involved in researching, curating, and installing our own exhibitions as a part of our final projects for MSL 4000. Check out Carly’s article about the Shelley Peterson Student Exhibition she and her team curated. 

Jordan: How could I forget! It was so rewarding to watch all of the second-year students produce their capstone projects for the program. I feel incredibly lucky to have worked alongside such dedicated and talented individuals, and I cannot wait to see which projects we begin to work on next! Although many of us will be leaving Toronto to return home, I know that we will work collectively to improve the state of museums in Canada. Perhaps we will all be lucky enough to return for the 100th year anniversary of the Museum Studies program, just like we celebrated the 50th in 2019!

Ally: Agreed! As for now we are content with bringing some interesting articles to our readers, whether it be Val teaching us about different digital tools to help museums create applicable and accessible narratives, or Emma brightening our day with stories of historical events, Musings will always be here to catch you up, no matter the circumstances!

With that, we better say our thank you's and goodbyes. We can honestly say being Editors-in-chief of Musings was one of the greatest experiences we had during our time at the Faculty of Information. We want to thank our wonderful team of contributing editors, Erika, our fabulous communications officer (and your incoming Co-Editor-in-Chief with Jaime Meier) , and you, the readers, none of this would be possible without you. 

WHY FOOD?: AN INVESTIGATION INTO PASSION AND INTEREST

A Muse Bouche | Jordan Fee

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As I close in on the end of my term as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Musings, I am beginning to reflect on just what it is about food that fascinates me. Over the course of the past two years, my thoughts and opinions on the relationship between food and museums have varied greatly. Now, at the end of my time in the Museum Studies program, I am struggling to understand how I might go on preaching about the social, political and educational value of food to groups of people who might not share the same degree of passion and interest.

When I began thinking about food and museums, it was mainly on a sensory level. While museums are generally defined by the act of looking – and in some cases, touching – I was fascinated by the concept of a multi-sensory museological experience, one that included senses like smell and taste. Local iSchool Professor Irina Miahalache’s book, Food and Museums, provided me with a great amount of reading material on this subject, and inspired me to consider how individuals outside of the museum, such as chefs and community members, could form new approaches for exhibition and interpretation. Reading about the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SOFAB) in New Orleans and the ElBulli Foundation in Spain, my eyes were opened to an entirely new mode of thinking.

The Southern Food and Beverage Museum (Source)

Following this initial fascination with multi-sensory museum experiences, I began to notice how the educational aspects of museums can, in some ways, mirror food industry. While working at my job at a local butcher-shop, I had unique interaction with some customers that made me realize that the meanings that we assign to objects in museums are often somewhat arbitrary, and how important it is to let visitors develop their own relationships with these objects without too much intervention.

A local butcher shop in Spain (Source)

Later, I began to consider how contemporary and historic cookbooks could be used as a means for companionship and understanding between individuals, which I would argue is also one of the core tenants of contemporary museology. Since beginning my internship in the Publications department at the Art Gallery of Ontario, I have thought more and more about how art books – those fancy codices that accompany museum exhibitions – resemble cook books in their format and content. Since then,  I have since learned about companies like Figure 1 Publishing, a firm based in Vancouver which designs cook books and art books exclusively.

If you’ve read some of the more recent articles that I’ve published on Musings, you’ll have seen that my focus has not necessarily been on how to get food into the museum. There are already many individuals working hard to accomplish this task. Rather, I have been trying to show how food and reflect all aspects of our culture, from generational knowledge, to intangible heritage.

Of course, this is not to say that I don’t want to see a more literal crossover between food and museums. In my opinion, some of the most interesting museum displays in the world are food-related, such as Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum for American History. Furthermore, I believe that art can serve food in the way that it challenges our modes of perception and thinking about the world around us. 

Julia Childs Kitchen in the Smithsonian Museum of American History (Source)

Ultimately, I believe that food and museums are important to me because they point outwards. When I serve food to my friends, I am thinking not only of what is on a plate, but also about where this food came from, how it got to me, and who was affected by this process. This is something that I find myself doing whenever I am strolling around a museum; wondering where these objects came from, how they got there, and who might have played a part in this process. Unfortunately in both cases, the process may or may not be very clear, and sometimes, many individuals have been taken advantage of along the way. Still, I can’t help but seeing food and museums as vast networks of connections and relationships that extend across the globe.

While it may be cliché to say, many of us today are stuck in a culture of self-gratification. I, myself am implicated in this. However, I believe that both food and museums force us to look outwards, into the world around us, and understand that we form part of something larger. When you look at an object in a museum, try to think about all of the other objects that were not put on display, or that were sent to a different museum by a different collector. When you eat a piece of food, try to not only think about how it might taste, but also about all of the people who made it so. Focus not only on what is present, but also on what is absent. In this way, we can all become more empathetic towards both people and objects, which can only help us to become better professionals.

MAIZE AND MEXICAN HERITAGE: AN EVENING AT THE DEPANNEUR WITH IVÁN WADGYMAR

A Muse Bouche | Jordan Fee

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In the final weeks of 2019, just days before we all sunk into holiday-hibernation, a friend and I took a leisurely stroll to an unknown location. That is to say, my friend knew where we were going but I did not. The entire night had been set up as an end-of-semester surprise, and I had no serious expectations as to what we were getting into.

Around 6pm, we arrived at our destination: The Depanneur, which is located at 1033 College Street, just a few blocks west of Ossington Avenue. Lovingly referred to by patrons and owners as “The Dep”, this space is one-part kitchen, one-part restaurant, and one part-forum. As I write this article, I find it quite difficult to define just what is The Depanneur. Perhaps, it is best to simply refer to their website, where the space is described as “a place where interesting food things happen.”

Inside of The Depanneur (Source)

The event attended by my friend and I was part of a larger Table Talk series. For each of these events, the owner of the Depanneur, Len Senater, invites a local culinary personality to speak to guests about a topic that is of particular interest to them. The talk is then accompanied by a series of plates and dishes that reflect the ideas and themes found within the talk.

The personality invited to speak at this particular event was Iván Wadgymar, who is the owner of a tortelleria (ie. a place where tortillas are made) called Maizal. Originally a restaurant, Maizal has scaled down to become a one-stop shop for hand-made tortillas and totopos (think the best chips you’ve ever had). Although hard to find, the business is located on Ossington Avenue, in the kitchen space behind the bar Baby Huey. 

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#ActFast TUE Dec 3 — Table Talk: Iván Wadgymar on The Past and Future of Maize Maize, the staple grain of many pre-Colombian civilizations, is now one of the most widely cultivated crops on Earth. But along the way, so much of what made corn culturally central and sacred is under threat of being erased by the soulless commodity products flooding the global market. Artisanal producers like Iván Wadgymar are returning to the heritage varietals and traditional processing techniques, along with zero-waste agricultural practices. This produces a higher quality, more authentic, and far more delicious product that honours this precious gift of nature and culture. ----- Dinner by Len Senater This menu showcases the versatility of maize in Mexican cuisine Tostadas – crispy tortillas topped with squash, beans, chorizo (optional) & garnishes Pozole Verde – a pre-colombian soup of whole nixtamal corn (hominy) in a green chicken broth w/ tomatillos, green chiles, cilantro and pepitas Tamales Dulces – festive dessert tamales filled with dried fruit and garnished with cajeta caramel Chocolate Atole – a cornflour thickened beverage with vanilla and Mexican cacao. #GF #vegan options available ----- Doors open at 6pm, talk starts at 7pm Includes dinner and coffee or tea. $35 (includes HST) BOOK NOW https://thedepanneur.ca/event/table-talk-ivan-wadgymar-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-maize/ This Table Talk is presented in collaboration with Artery Every space is a stage. Artery lets anyone bring creative experiences to life, in places you may not expect. ----- Iván Wadgymar is a tortillero and molinero who runs Maizal, a tortilleria that evolved from a Mexican restaurant into an end-to-end producer of artisanal corn masa, tortillas & totopos. They grow heritage maize locally, nixtamalize it in traditional ways and produce products that seek to reconnect to centuries of cultural tradition and wisdom. ----- Every month The Depanneur invites a local food personality to talk about something that interests them while Dep founder Len Senater cooks dinner for everyone. Find out more on Table Talks at The Depanneur https://thedepanneur.ca/table-talk/

A post shared by Len Senater (@thedepanneur) on Nov 25, 2019 at 11:36am PST

Originally, hailing from Mexico, Wadgymar was careful to emphasize the importance of what is known as maize to Mexican culture and heritage. Although corn and maize are both varieties of the same species Zea Mays, the corn that we consume in North America today is generally prized for its high-sugar content, whereas maize is much more prized for its starch. This means that maize holds greater potential health benefits than corn, and that it can sustain humans for a longer period of time.

However, Wadgymar explained that one cannot simply eat maize like you would a piece of corn-on-the-cob. Instead, maize needs to be dried and then boiled in an alkaline solution (most commonly water and limestone). This solution breaks down the cellular structure of the corn and produces a thick porridge called nixtamal, which is highly nutritious in nature. This can in turn be used to make masa, which is the dough that can be made into those tortillas and totopos that I mentioned before.

A Traditional Tortelleria (Source)

According to Wadgymar, both nixtamal and masa have integral to the agri(cultural) history of Mexico for thousands and thousands of years. In fact, the process of nixtamalization (ie. the process through which dried maize is turned into nixtamal) has been dated back to 1500 B.C. This means that this process could have been just as important for pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican societies as it is to people like Wadgymar today.

In keeping with this extensive tradition, Wadgymar has travelled to Mexico to collect indigenous species of maize and brought them back to Canada to be cultivated here. Much of the maize grown for Wadgymar’s tortelleria is produced on a farm north of Toronto, and he is very careful to follow the steps taken by his predecessors to produce the highest quality masa possible. 

More recently, Wadgymar has also taken the opportunity to plant varieties of corn that are indigenous to North America, thereby constructing a bridge between the Mesoamerican cultures that relied on varieties of Zea Mays as a major food staple. He has even gone on to describe the food that he makes as “indigenous Mexican cuisine”, thereby embedding himself firmly in the traditions of his home country. 

When this talk began, I believed that I possessed a strong understanding of what the many varieties of corn represented in todays agricultural system. For many, corn is representative of some of the worst aspects of contemporary agriculture, from habitat destruction, to animal feed lots, to monocultures whose scale exceeds comprehension. However, Wadgymar’s talk revealed a completely different world, one that is defined by local communities, intangible cultural heritage and generational wisdom. In just a few short hours, Wadgymar flipped the script completely and showed each of the guests how maize can represent some of the strongest and most resilient aspects of food culture.

I would highly recommend that anyone reading this article check out the Depanneur’s website to see all of the exciting events that they have planned for the coming months (these are not limited to the Table Talk series!). Furthermore, if you want to taste the product of Wadgymar’s hard work, make sure to stop in at Maizal for some tortillas! I promise that you will not regret it.

Finally, if you’d like to find out what me and my friend ate on this wonderfully informative evening, follow this link: https://thedepanneur.ca/event/table-talk-ivan-wadgymar-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-maize/ to find out.

CHATTING BY THE FIREPLACE WITH MUSINGS AND MUSSA

Letter from the Editor | Alexandra Forand, Jordan Fee, Natalie Heaton and Emma Puddicombe

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Well, it’s that time of year again. The wind is blowing, the snow is falling, and we are finished with yet another semester in the Museum Studies program! Since the last time we spoke with you, fellow Musers, so much has gone on that we thought we would invite the President and Vice-President of the Museum Studies Student Association (MUSSA) to chat with us and highlight all of the wonderful things that have taken place this semester!

Photo Courtesy of Erika Serodio

Photo Courtesy of Emma Puddicombe 

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Jordan: Emma, Natalie, it’s so nice to have you here with us! How are you feeling now that the semester is over?

Emma: It’s been a long semester, but such a great one! The students have all been so ready to interact with each other and take part in events on campus, and the articles Musings has published have been a joy to read every week. Our colleagues are so creative and hardworking. It’s weird to think we’ll be starting our last semester of this program in just a few weeks!

Natalie: Over the past few months I’ve been trying to push myself to try new things and meet new people! As a result, I’ve met incredible people, done amazing things, I’m really happy with how the semester went.

Ally: This is true, much has passed in just a span of 3 months. And what a whirlwind it has been! It seems like only yesterday that Jordan and I published our first articles as Editors-and-Chiefs of Musings. You can check those out here and here. How time flies!

Soure.

Jordan: Right you are! I bet the contributing editors who joined our team in September agree with you. As always, I am blown away with the breadth of articles. This semester Dominica took us on an adventure when she examined the unique programming at Black Creek Pioneer Village, Michelle had a frightfully good time at the “Bloodsuckers” at the Royal Ontario Museum, and Mary analysed “Age of you” at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA).

Photo Courtesy of Mary Wallace. 

Photo courtesy of Alexandra Forand 

Emma: Musings also went beyond museums when Carly W. explored community engagement at Community Arts Guild, Jaime investigated Library and Archives Canada (LAC) digitization projects in collaboration with the Nunavummiut, and Carys pointed out the various displays of art on the streets of Toronto and their importance.

Photo courtesy of Katherine Fleitas/peacephoto

Jordan: Of course, we can’t forget about Natalie’s article about the Ottawa Field Trip! While I was sad to miss it, the consensus seems to be that it was a fantastic trip! What were your favourite parts about it?

Photo courtesy of Natalie Heaton. 

Ally: I quite enjoyed seeing all the museums’ galleries and the stories they told with their objects. I know Carly H. would agree with me that objects can tell very powerful stories. I was also interested in the inner workers of those museums. It is not every day that you get to see museums’ collections, libraries, and research centres, as discussed by Madison!

Emma: I’m just so happy that the students who joined the trip made such great connections with the professionals we met. It’s so great seeing first-hand how much museum professionals, especially alumni, want to support us as we start our careers! Elizabeth’s check-in with Britt Braaten was especially interesting to read.

Photo courtesy of Britt Braaten.

Natalie: I will remember the relationships that I formed and the ones I strengthened with my classmates. I also loved taking in all the museums, talking to the museum professionals, and getting to go behind the scenes! The behind-the-scene tour of the Canadian History Museum was a particular standout.

Jordan: Well, I still have many fond memories of the trip to Montreal last year, and from the sounds of it, the trip to Ottawa was just as great. I think that these trips are a fantastic way for new students to form a community.

Ally: Musings is great for this as well, because that is what we aim to do! Whether that be a professional community, as seen through Samantha’s latest article interviewing Dale Butterill from the Women's Arts Association of Canada. Musings is also a great way to process current events through an important lens. I was partial to Amy’s latest article discussing the monumentalization of the Stonewall Inn, and Joanna’s take on female artists (or lack-there-of) in art museums.

Photo courtesy of Amelia Smith. 

Nathalie: I am excited to see where Defne will go with her series about museums representing climate change as well as Jessica’s series on collection storage solutions… on a budget!

Illustration courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. 

Illustration courtesy of Jessica Lanziner.

Jordan: And of course, Musings cannot exist without the help of MUSSA! It has been so fantastic seeing the two of you lead the pack this year; I truly think that the dynamic you’ve formed with the students in the faculty is incredible.

Ally: Especially now that we’re headed into the final semester of our time in the program, it is comforting to know that we have such a strong support system.

With that being said, I think it’s best that we leave our readers and give them some time to relax. Musings will be on hiatus for the rest of December, but keep an eye out in early January for new posts! In the meantime, don't forget to check our Emma’s article about holiday traditions and if you still need to do some holiday shopping head on over to Erika’s Gift Guide for Museum people! 

Happy Holidays! From our family to yours! Photo courtesy of Alexandra Forand. 

CULTURE(D): FOOD, MICROBIOLOGY AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE

A Muse Bouche | Jordan Fee

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Since it has been a recurring topic in my past two articles, I thought it best to write my final piece for this semester on how some producers and distributors of food can function in similar ways to cultural institutions. However, while my last two articles dealt with the inherently human side of this question, my article today will be centred on something different, and quite microscopic: namely, bacteria.

One of the most popular topics in the world of food today is fermentation. While entire books have been written on this topic, fermentation can be defined simply as a biochemical process where certain compounds – sugars, in most cases – are broken down in an environment that is anaerobic (ie. free of oxygen). Fermentation is the process that produces alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer, but it is also integral to the production of dried meat products, as well as things like tofu, soya sauce and kombucha.

Chocolate is also fermented product! Here are some fermenting cocoa beans. (Source.)

So how exactly does the process of fermentation begin? Generally, there are two ways: one is to add what is known as starter culture to the mixture, which is essentially packaged bacteria that will help kickstart the process. The other, more traditional method is to let the mixture become inoculated with the natural yeasts and bacteria that exist in the air around us, which can be referred to as a low-intervention method. 

In either case, when the mixture is inoculated with these bacteria, it is referred to as being cultured. This open-access study, published in Frontiers in Microbiology, defines the distinction between two kinds of culture (ie. the one that we generally refer to in museums and the other microbial kind) as such:

"Every community in the world has distinct food culture including fermented foods and alcoholic beverages, symbolizing the heritage and socio-cultural aspects of the ethnicity. The word “culture” denotes food habits of ethnicity; another meaning for the same word “culture” is a cluster of microbial cells or inoculum, an essential biota for fermentation, often used in the microbiology."

These days, cultural institutions around the world are becoming more and more concerned with what is referred to as intangible cultural heritage. A fellow writer for A Muse Bouche wrote in 2018 about this topic in relation to the cultural practice of saving seeds, emphasizing how it sustains the traditions and memories of communities across the world. According to the website for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):

“Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.”

While this definition certainly covers a broad range of cultural practices, is it possible that this emphasis on intangible cultural heritage could be taken one step further, into the microscopic realm? Currently, UNESCO lists over 15 food-related practices on its list of intangible cultural heritage. While some, like the Washoku diet in Japan, are related to the spiritual beliefs of a particular culture, there are other traditions that require micro-biotic activity as well. Kimchi, for example, is a fermented cabbage product that is traditional to both North and South Korea. Each year, many communities come together in what is known as the Kimjang where kimchi is produced en masse in autumn to prepare for the harsh winter.

Portioning Kimchi at a Kimjang celebration in Seoul, South Korea. (Source.)

According to the report linked earlier, Kimchi has been found to contain up to 17 different kinds of bacteria, and several other kinds of naturally-occurring yeasts. Each of these microscopic organisms contributes to the development of flavour and texture in the kimchi, breaking down the contents into a sweet, spicy, funky and tangy product (can you tell that I like kimchi?)

In any case, what I find so fascinating about this tradition is that it relies on both kinds of culture. The participants in Kimjang help to form the macroscopic culture that we in museums know so well, while the bacteria form the microscopic culture that helps to produce these unique food products that help to define a particular country, region or town.

In a lecture published in 2015, David Chang – owner of the Momofuku restaurant group and star of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious – spoke on what he referred to as “microbial terroir”. The word terroir is used most commonly to describe the characteristics of wine, generally in relation to the soil that the grapevines are grown in. However, in this lecture, Chang makes the argument that this terroir – the unique set of geographic characteristics that determine the taste of foods around the world – exists on a scale that is invisible to the human eye.

While I won’t get too far into it, Chang highlights two different kinds of yeasts – aspergillus orzyae and pichia. He speaks about how the former (which is also known as koji) is traditionally used in Japan to create products like soya sauce. He then goes on to tell a story about how, in an attempt to inoculate a certain food product with koji, he actually ended up producing a different kind, the aforementioned pichia. This led to the realization that because he was in New York, "using New York ingredients in New York air", that the naturally occurring yeast would of course be different from the ones that occur naturally in places like Japan. This essentially means that each region in the world has its own microscopic culture that is unique. This variation is also reflected in the article published in Frontiers of Microbiology!

It it would of course be difficult to officially designate these yeasts and bacteria as manifestations of intangible heritage. Still, I think it is something very interesting to think about. Museums today are having to readjust their practices to allow for new modes of cultural expression, and I believe that these microscopic cultures should be included in that discussion, even if it is only theoretical.

To quote Stuart Hall: ““theory is always a detour on the way to something more important.”