{"id":23600,"date":"2016-11-07T12:19:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T11:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/the-new-gastronomes\/mofad-city-platform-immigrant-food-culuture-trump\/"},"modified":"2016-11-07T12:26:51","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T11:26:51","slug":"mofad-city-platform-immigrant-food-culuture-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/mofad-city-platform-immigrant-food-culuture-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"MOFAD City: A platform for immigrant food culture in the time of Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been working on projects at the intersection of sustainable food, immigrant communities, and local culture since I returned to New York from Italy in 2014. So, of all the noteworthy (and cringe-worthy) sound bites of the current U.S. election season, one had particular relevance to my work: A conservative commentator warned that without more stringent restrictions to stem the (in fact, non-existent) flood of Mexican immigrants over the U.S. border, Americans would soon see \u201ctaco trucks on every corner.\u201d\u00a0 We can laugh at his remarks \u2013 and thousands on social media did, noting that the promise of more taco trucks sounds like a pretty glowing argument for <em>more<\/em> immigration. But the comment also spoke to a dark thread in current political commentary: the demonization of immigrants and devaluation of their work, their culture, and their role in the fabric of American life.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is that immigrants with taco trucks \u2013 and dumpling carts, injera bakeries, kebab stands, and pizzerias \u2013 are essential to the way we eat today. The landscape of American food is constantly changing with the population \u2013 and has been since the founding of our country. It is the ability to bring diverse people together to make a home here, to exchange and share ideas and customs that makes us who we are. And so much of that exchange happens over food.<\/p>\n<p>This is the inspiration behind <strong>MOFAD City<\/strong>, a project of the Museum of Food and Drink in Brooklyn, NY. MOFAD City is a \u201cvirtual exhibit\u201d that takes the form of eight guides telling the stories of food cultures in neighborhoods around the country. Each guide includes a narrative history of the community, profiles of food businesses and iconic dishes, as well video, photography, and audio interviews with local food producers and community leaders. The goal is to promote appreciation of immigrant food traditions and to inspire thoughtful discussion around the meaning of American cuisine.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Here&#039;s Where Locals Really Eat In New York City\u2019s Chinatown \u2014 MOFAD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d5spN2KwHuY?rel=0&showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>I\u2019ve been working with the Museum of Food and Drink since August of this year. Our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eater.com\/a\/mofad-city-guides\">first guides<\/a> launched in October, and the final guide will go live in January, 2017. This project has taken me to some of America\u2019s most vibrant cultural neighborhoods \u2013 from Miami\u2019s Little Haiti to Los Angeles\u2019 Little Armenia \u2013 and introduced me to some of the immigrant food producers who are shaping local food scenes across the country. From the start, we felt it was essential that these guides be relevant to the people living in these communities, and not just addressed to visitors. We wanted them to be thorough, historical, and culturally responsible. And we knew this would be impossible if the only voices heard were ours: a group of (mostly white) foodies in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<p>In each city, I set out to identify researchers, writers and advisers who were rooted in these communities, and passionate about the local food and history. Mexican cuisine in Chicago; Caribbean food in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; Vietnamese cuisine in San Jose \u2013 these stories come from people who have lived - and eaten - in these neighborhoods all their lives. In every step of the project \u2013 from selecting photos to editing audio and video clips, to writing web copy \u2013 we have worked to channel the voices of these communities, so that we can do justice to the immigrant groups who have built these cities, celebrate their contributions while drawing attention to their biggest challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Our hope is that users will not only appreciate the site \u2013 built in a collaboration between MOFAD and online food magazine Eater.com \u2013 for its food and restaurant information, but that they will use it to learn about the culture and historical significance of culinary landmarks, and explore issues of food culture, identity, immigration, and adaptation. We hope users will be inspired to visit these places, enjoy the food, support these local producers, and come away with a closer connection to the immigrant communities that shape the way America eats.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Thriving Himalayan Cuisine In USA&#039;s Most Diverse Neighborhood: Jackson Heights \u2014 MOFAD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n5WUPdzUCDk?rel=0&showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>It is part of the same mission that drives the museum \u2013 to contribute to public understanding of the culture, history, science, production, and commerce of food and drink, in the hopes that an informed public will be better equipped to address the food challenges of the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century. MOFAD knows that to truly achieve its mission it must reach out to people of all economic and ethnic backgrounds, and make them feel not only welcome in the museum, but integral parts of our national conversations on issues of food, immigration, and justice.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Where Locals Really Eat In Brooklyn&#039;s Crown Heights \u2014 MOFAD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H4ZT-thYFCM?rel=0&showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Haitian Cuisine Became a Powerhouse in Miami&#039;s Culinary Scene \u2014 MOFAD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9eGXLqfMrMQ?rel=0&showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pho and More from San Jose\u2019s Thriving Vietnamese Enclave \u2014 MOFAD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9RMRq75qf0E?rel=0&showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">To know more about this project visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eater.com\/a\/mofad-city-guides\" target=\"_blank\">MOFAD City<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The reality is that immigrants with taco trucks \u2013 and dumpling carts, injera bakeries, kebab stands, and pizzerias \u2013 are essential to the way we eat today. The landscape of American food is constantly changing with the population \u2013 and has been since the founding of our country. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22331,"featured_media":23598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","show_related_posts":true,"relatore_articolo_journal":"","autore_articolo_journal":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unisg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}